Surviving Saiyans
by FANthony'sFiction
Summary: When you play a game, build a new character, then overthink the Hefl out of her backstory and life. This story follows the life of Saiyans that managed to avoid death. But now they must find a way of staying alive while an empire threatens their existence if discovered.
1. Prologue

**Surviving Saiyans.  
****Prologue.**

* * *

After hours of wandering around a sun-scorched continent with the dry dusty wind blowing in their face and sticking to the sweat that was all but pouring from their skin and burning their eyes, it was such a relief to get aboard the ship again.  
As the old captain went to program in the planet's readings into the ships' server, his bodyguards retired to the galley for an ice-cold drink.  
The first to reach the water tank ignored the many cups available and instead grabbed a jug as she tried to get her fill.

"Rhuba…" Gasped the other as he watched her thirstily gulp down the water. _"stand aside…"_ He warned with a dry throat.

She wouldn't hear him. The need to drink was overshadowing any interest in her partner's demands. After waiting a few more seconds, he had enough and grabbed her by the base of her tall to pull her away from the tap.  
Rhuba choked the moment she felt his hands on her, but there was still water in her jug and that took priority.

Upon the bridge, Captain Granate finished his report to the Freeza Force and prepared the ship for taking off.  
"Stations, you two." Granate called over the communicator.  
He took his place to pilot the ship and waited for Garagus.

When his Saiyan crew arrived from the Galley with canteens of fresh water in hand, he gave both of them a crooked smile as he moved his dark scaly hands to grab a drink.  
"On my world, days last thirty-seven hours, and it's far hotter than this." Despite his claim, he was still thirsty and it would be a lie to say traversing the landscape was in any way easy for him.  
As most planets they land on are often cold, to be able to stomach the natural climate of the uncharted word was a rarity that he intended to enjoy.

"What did the reader say anyway?" Garagus asked as he clipped himself into the copilot seat.

"Large mineral deposits and some water ravines about a mile underground," Rhuba's job during the flight was manning the comms-station, so she had Granate's report in front of her. "If I'd known that, I'd have dug down there by hand."

"And _I_ would have helped you," Garagus added just before take-off.

The ship rocked slightly as it lifted vertically from the surface.  
A known design flaw of the ship's model is that the seats have a centre of gravity behind them which keeps the pilots facing forward when in motion, but the comms-station is perpendicular to the pilots, meaning that when the ship takes off, Rhuba ends up spinning away from her screen.  
"Thanks for the warning," She muttered _"dick."_ under her breath. As annoying as it was to be pulled away from her work, there was a childish element of fun to be randomly spun in her seat.

"Did you hear that noise before we took off?" Granate called back. "The engine powering up? That means we're about to _lift." _

"And did you hear that break just now? Oh of course not, because it was your neck if you ever sass me again."

Granate turned to Garagus, who was visibly shaking with silent laughter as he listened to his mate argue with their captain.  
_"Keep your woman under control will you?" _

_ "I've tried, she's a menace!" _

After a long minute of acceleration into space, the gravity shift made the ship feel like it had evened out enough to walk around the bridge.  
Granate unbuckled and stood from his seat. "Garagus switch with me. Rhuba, move up." The captain stood by as his trainees moved to their new positions.

When Granate first worked with the Saiyan duo, he had to teach them how the ship operated pretty much from scratch. Neither of them trusted automation when they first came aboard, and for the longest time, he saw them both as lost causes when it came to understanding the ship's mechanics.  
They were slow learners. Even the basics seemed unintuitive to them.  
But after a few years of space travel, Granate's Saiyan crew are all but capable of running the ship themselves. Garagus was able to land and take off from familiar planets and Rhuba was becoming quite the effective navigator and copilot.

"At factor seven, we should approach base three nine one in about three hundred and twelve hours…" Rhuba pulled a face as she tried to add those up. "two… _weeks?"_

"Close enough," Granate said, patting her on the shoulder. "Send us off Garagus."

"Hmm." Garagus pushed a lever forward and put his foot on the peddle.

As the engine powered up, Granate held onto the hand bar going along the roof of the bridge to stabilise himself before the ship blasted forth at light speed.  
"Try to be gentler on that peddle." He warned Garagus before retiring to his quarters for some rest.


	2. Chapter 1: Base 391

**Chapter 1: Base 391.**

* * *

When the Saiyan world was discovered seven years ago, it was reported that every scouting ship was blown out of the sky despite the lack of advanced weaponry from the inhabits.  
There were ruins of civilisation, but the Saiyans lived in tribe-like communities out with the desolated cities.

King Cold that ran the military back then, so he visited the Saiyans personally. The race of _Monkeys_ as he called them, soon learned the submit or die options that most of the empire knelt before.  
From then on, the Saiyan world was rebuilt into a functioning outpost. The Saiyan people were conscripted into uniform and given tasks best suited to their skills.

Because Granate only ran a scouting ship and was getting on in years himself, he recruited Garagus to act as his muscle after his original copilot went missing in action, but two years later Garagus asked for Rhuba to join too, due to some family issues on their homeworld.  
It didn't take long to get used to Garagus and Rhuba's alien quirks. One 'good' thing about the ever expanding empire, you get a taste of diverse behaviours from both advanced and primitive races. For better or worse.

_"We'll be docking Freeza base three nine one, in one hour!"_ Granate's voice came from the speakers throughout the ship, which included the room where the Saiyan's slept.

_"He's such a pain in the ass,"_ Rhuba whispered with her head resting on Garagus's chiselled chest.

_"Want to get up?"_ Asked Garagus without so much as opening an eye.

_"No._" She yawned.

Garagus would like nothing more than to stay in bed with her. But he promised Granate that efficiency wouldn't drop with the inclusion of Rhuba, and he kept that promise.  
"Come on." He sighed, patting her on the behind as he sat up and brought his feet to the cold metal floor.

"I'm still sleepy." Rhuba quickly snuggled up under the quilt again, but hearing the shower running in the next room and knowing that Garagus was readying himself to start working made her feel guilty for staying in bed, so she kicked the quilt off and let the room's cold air begin to wake her.  
She then flattened out, stretching every part of her body from her fingers down to her shoulders, hips to toes, neck to the tip of her tail. Her bones clicked here and there, but now that she felt ready she threw on one of his long tops before skipping out of the room towards the galley.  
It only made sense for her to eat while he bathes and then to swap over.

She put a pot of water over the stove then plopped a food capsule in after it began to boil. It used to be a point of fascination watching the tiny pill fluff out into an all in one loaf meal, large enough to feed for four people.  
Once it was ready, she drained the remaining water and began eating it by hand.  
It had a dough-like texture when she bit into it, filling her mouth with steam each time. The flavours they came in were varied, but she'd come to expect the watered-down taste of what was promised.  
Still, it satisfied her hunger and kept her strong, which was all she cared about.

When she was done eating, she refilled the pot and stuck another capsule inside for Garagus, who entered the galley in full uniform just as the food was reaching maximum absorption.  
"Just in time." Rhuba turned the heat off before leaving Garagus alone to eat while she went off to get ready herself.

Like Rhuba, Garagus picked the roasting hot loaf by hand and ate it on his way to the bridge to find Granate at his station and was working away as he programmed their docking.

The station was already in sight but still far away, and even this far out there was a speed restriction. Anything going too fast on approach has tens of laser turrets focused on it and failure to respond means certain death.

By the time Rhuba was out the shower and dressed in uniform, the ship was just about ready to dock.  
Although there wasn't much point in taking her post this close to landing, she sat herself down anyway and checked the comms.  
"We've got a new mission. A new world was conquered twelve days ago. We're to survey and report back its worth."

_"After_ we refuel." Granate called back to her.

Without needing a command, Garagus began programming in a course from his monitor.  
"Destination?" He asked.

"Kanassa, no sorry…" After reading the new name, Rhuba rolled her eyes. "Freeza Planet _Four One Nine."_

Even Granate felt the names were getting ridiculous. Under King Cold, newly conquered planets kept their names. But ever since his son, Lord Freeza took over, every new planet brought to heel was assigned a number.  
Not that the Saiyans could claim any better. Their homeworld was named after an equally egocentric ruler just a year before King Cold stood foot on their soil.

"I miss home." Rhuba sighed as she thought about how simple things were. She longed for the time when the biggest worry was of Garagus's family discovering their coupling.

"Belts," Granate ordered when they were about to enter the artificial gravity generated by the station.  
Rhuba clipped her self in and held onto the handlebars around the computer. The ship felt like it had suddenly rolled over onto its nose.  
_"that was rough."_

"Sorry…" Garagus tried to stabilise the descent onto the designated landing strip with Granate mostly supervising. "How are you doing?" Glancing back to Rhuba, he saw her holding to her workstation for dear life, all the while fighting against the chair she was sat on.

When the ship finally landed, there was a breath of relief among the three of them.  
"Stick to planets," Granate advised his navigator as he got up and pulled his own chest armour on to complete his uniform. "Alright, put your tails away and try to look presentable."

After the ship powered down, Garagus and Rhuba stood to fasten their tails snug around their waists before disembarking behind their captain.  
The dock has a strong smell of fuel and steel for Granate, but the Saiyans behind him only smelled food. Not the soggy loaves they endure on missions, but real freshly prepared, mouth watering dishes.

Since this was a Freeza station, there was no need to watch over their shoulders as if it were an unknown planet with potential threats. So protecting their captain was less of a priority.  
"How long before we need to leave?" Garagus asked, keeping his hand out to stop Rhuba darting ahead.

"Two hours to ready the ship… so we'll be leaving in five."

Garagus nodded, dropped his arm and he and Rhuba took off towards the higher levels where the cantine was located.  
The station was built in layers, each with open sides so races that could fly as well as small vessels could come and go as they please.

"I love feeling this light." Rhuba chimed as her feet touched down on the platform above the dock.  
All planets they visit have different gravity strengths, but pretty much all of them have been weaker than their homeworld. Even the station felt floaty to them. So Rhuba could practically fly around the base with just a few controlled jumps and by emitting some of her own power to slow her landing.  
Garagus had other ideas. He was much more adept at controlling his flight, and so was able to swoop in from behind and lift off with her in his arms to carry her to the counter selling whatever it was they were both smelling.

"Show off." She said with a snide look.

"I'll teach you anytime."

"I_ can't_ fly!" She urged while holding onto him just before his foot finally hit the floor.

Garagus has been able to levitate off the ground since before they left home. Weak gravity only makes it easier for him to do so.  
A skill he's not alone with. Over a quarter of the entire Saiyan race can fly as he does.  
But since Rhuba never learned at a young age nor was she around many people who could fly, it became ingrained in her head that she'll never learn to herself.  
But Garagus often carries her as he goes, so she finds the thrill of flying in his arms far more exciting than the constant frustration of failure with every futile attempt.

After a quick, albeit not very_ light_ breakfast, Rhuba looked at different races of aliens sitting at surrounding tables. She was wondering if there were any fellow Saiyans around. But spotting tails or jet black Saiyan hair among all the different body shapes and sizes was hard enough, not to mention that some of them were wearing helmets. Instead, she was looking for stacks of dishes at small tables.  
But their's were the only towering stacks of ten or more bowls each.  
"Are we the only Saiyans here?"

Garagus looked up from his bowl to glance at all the humanoids. Base 391 wasn't so far out of the way that their people wouldn't frequent this station and after a long trip in space, you could bet any money that the Saiyan's first protocol would be food.  
"Maybe they're on assuagement." He suggested before slurping up more of his noodles.

"Maybe…" Rhuba stepped from their table to take over a vacant computer station. Sometimes messages are sent to specific ships, but the terminals at the stations have listings of all tasks sent down by Lord Freeza.  
If the Saiyans are off doing something, Rhuba was curious to know where her people were.  
"oh…" A smile stretched across her face. She excitedly closed down the screen before dashing back to her table. "We're going home!" She squeaked to Garagus, shaking his arm to rouse him from his seat. "A week ago all Saiyan pods were recalled to Vegeta until further notice."

"What for?"

"I don't care!" Rhuba ran a step away before turning on the spot. "You get the ship ready, I'll find Granate."

"We're refuelling." Garagus groaned as he lifted another dumpling into his mouth.

Rhuba made a disappointed face but came back to the table anyway. Five hours isn't too long when compared to the months they've spent bouncing from base to planet to base and planet. "Maybe I should send mum a message?" She wondered out loud, but the terminal she was just at was now taken by someone else. "never mind..."

Garagus mumbled someone before his mouth was entirely empty of food. "I-, I wonder if Cressin is still annoyed that I took you" He said with a coy but nervous look.

Rhuba smiled at him with her face still resting in her hands.  
Back before the planet was taken over, Garagus had to live with Rhuba and her mother as they avoided the internal conflicts of their world. Although Garagus was an Alpha Saiyan, he respected the den wasn't his and never overstepped his bounds with Cressin or her daughter.

"It's your troop I'm worried about…" Rhuba sighed. "Maybe we should split up when we get home."

Garagus chocked on his meal. _"What?"_

"_Just until we leave again, _I mean." Rhuba hid her face behind an empty cup as she pretended to drink from it. "that way you can see your troop again"

As much as she wants to go home and this recall is a fantastic excuse for Granate to take them there, it also meant All the Alphas would be there too, although _now_ they're calling themselves 'Saiyan Elites'.  
The truth is Rhuba was scared of them. It was no secret Garagus's troop disapproved of their time together, and going home means there's a chance she'll run into them.

"I'll be worried if I'm not with you," Garagus told her. "After last time, I don't want you alone."  
However long they'll have on their homeworld, Garagus honestly didn't mind if it was spent with Rhuba and her mother as he and Cressin were very close, so catching up with her would be nice for them both.

After eating, the pair went for a wander to the training hall, where soldiers can practice combat. But in actuality, it's more of a room where they settle grudges or show off.  
Rhuba and Garagus stood on the stalls, watching as the two teams ducked in and out of cover while firing their weapons at each opening the enemy presented.

The blaster rifles used in these arenas are painful to be hit by, but usually don't result in a permanent injury. The general rule is if you're _willing_ to keep fighting after being hit, you're allowed to. It's a test of endurance as well as accuracy and tactics.

Rhuba watched with anticipation as she saw someone about to be snuck up on.  
The man with his guard down took a hard kick to the back of the legs before falling in the dirt and being blasted in the chest.  
Perfectly legal tactic. The guy on the ground was actually being heckled for being a weakling.

_"Get up and fight!"_ Rhuba called down.  
Her voice caught the attention of the one who shot the man, and while he was distracted, two blasts caught both his arm and head.

"idiot." Garagus sighed before looking elsewhere.  
Although there was a shootout happening, some soldiers had taken to hand to hand combat, while still using their rifles as blunt weapons.  
As a mass force, they're maybe effective. But one sharp blow to the gut each would take them out. Garagus had suffered worse in practice fights with Rhuba, so watching them get hurt in what was essentially a game was just starting to annoy him now.

"Incoming," Rhuba warned and before Garagus had even looked up, she'd deflected a laser blast back into the arena.

"Nice block."

"Thank you," Rhuba grinned proudly before turning back to the match. "How long before we should head back to the ship?"

Garagus flipped open his scouter and placed it on his head to cover both his left eye and ear. It switched on and began marking potential threats based on their physical exertion, but also displayed the time.  
"The ship will be ready now, but it's still up to Granate if he wants to head off sooner than we planned."

"Let's go ask him then."

"Right," Garagus was just about to switch the scouter off, but it started blinking, as a new set of numbers began to rise to levels he hadn't seen before. "Hold on…"

He leaned over the barrier and saw that two new contenders were entering the arena.  
Both of them were different races to anything Garagus or Rhuba had seen before.

The taller of the pair was a blue-skinned, red-eyed alien that looked to be around nine feet tall, while the other, shorter fellow around Rhuba's hight had red skin and flowing white hair.

_"All of you, shape Up, or get Out!"_ Called the tall blue alien, while the shorter red-skinned person with flowing white hair waited for his line to speak.  
_"Anyone wanting to prove their skill..."_  
_"Or spend time in the infirmary..."_  
_"Come and test your might, Against the Red Magma…!"  
"And the Blue Hurricane…!"  
"Jeice!"  
"Burter!"_

Rhuba and Garagus were slack-jawed, watching the pair dance into what could laughably be called a 'fighting pose' before loudly announcing; _"Ginyu Force!" _

There was a pause for a moment.  
Some soldiers moved out of the arena taking their injured friends with them, while others reloaded their rifles.

"Okay, we'll stay two more minutes," Rhuba said with an intrigued grin as she came back beside Garagus. If she got to see those clowns get wasted, she could spare the time. But Garagus was looking at his scouter still. Their power levels weren't a laughing matter.

The Ginyu team hopped to their starting positions in one leap while the once opposing two teams all rallied to the opposite side of the arena. Some starting in the air, others taking low vantage points.

_"Three…Two…One…Start!"_ Called the stand-in referee.

The team of many charged and fired their rifles on the unarmed duo.  
The red one, Jeice, leapt into the sky to evade the attack while the blue one, Burter, swooped low before completely vanishing.

"where'd he…?" Rhuba only looked up when she heard grunts of pain.  
The several airborne soldiers were systematically being whacked from the sky by a blue blur.

"Rhuba…" Garagus called her attention to the other.

Held in the hand of 'the Red Magma', was a vicious looking ball of concentrated energy.  
"Crusher Ball!" Jeice announced before throwing it towards the masses on the ground level.

The eruption of dust and rocks was big and loud. Half the team was whipped out in a single blast.  
The rest were disorientated but were one by one being picked off by either a kick or a chop from Jeice and Burter before the pair finally hopped to the centre to, once again, strike a pose for the audience.  
_"Captain Ginyu is recruiting for his High-Level Executive Class of Warriors!"  
__"Anyone who feels up for the toughest training of their life should report to either of us within the hour!"  
__"We got a lot of stations to visit, so find us at docking bay Four"  
_Again there was a pause before a finishing pose, and then they shot off through the main entrance to the arena, leaving a mess of injured and wheezing bodies behind.

"You should join," Garagus suggested.

"Not a chance," Rhuba replied.  
The Ginyu team's skill in combat did impress both the Saiyans, but the flamboyant behaviour and dancing was a big put off, and going by how empty their signup station was as the Saiyans walked by, everyone else was put off joining too.

Despite having over an hour remaining, Granate was already aboard but was calibrating the engines.  
"You're unusually early." He sighed without even looking back at them. "If you were looking for a place to be alone, go somewhere else"

_"such an asshole,"_ Rhuba chucked under her breath. "Actually, I checked a station terminal, all Saiyan pods have been recalled to the homeworld."

Pods are single person vessels meant for deploying soldiers while in stasis. Since Saiyans are usually raised to embrace new battles and fight until they drop, most of their race became soldiers under Freeza, and their absurd dietary needs make stasis the best way to transport them.  
However, Rhuba and Garagus spent most of their life avoiding conflict. During the last great war of their planet, the two of them were still preteens, and Garagus was fated have been pulled along with his troop to join the battle.  
That is, if not for Cressin.  
Rhuba's mother knew the two were fond of each other and although she didn't like the attention it was getting her and Rhuba, Cressin sheltered Garagus as part of her troop to wait out the war.

"And you're thinking those orders are meant for _All_ Saiyans?" Granate asked, finally looking up from his station.

Rhuba nodded. "There was no mention of why… only that failure to comply will be severely punished."

"Can't have that." Granate sighed as he shifted over to the copilot seat. "Freeza Planet four one nine, _on hold…_ Planet Vegeta, _set." _He rose with with a wave and point of his finger, signalled for both of them to get in the seats. "I've still got a hundred and four more minutes of leave… I'm taking a nap." He yawned on his way to his quarters, leaving his crew to set the ship up for take-off.

Garagus was a little nervous, but with Rhuba beside him reading the numbers for takeoff and speed control, he felt confident that he could fly to their homeworld without Granate's guidance.  
That said, it was comforting to know that he was just a button call away.

The engine powered up and after rolling back just fifteen decrees more than he meant to, the ship pivoted away from the station and took off into space. After a few moments to configure their course, Rhuba glanced at her console.

"At our current speed, we'll arrive in eight hundred thousand, seven hundred, and sixty-"  
Garagus placed pushed the lever all the way forward the moment they cross the speed restriction zone, causing the ship to blast off at top speed.  
The console recalculated.  
"Sorry," Rhuba groaned giving him a nasty glare. "At our _Current,_ speed... we'll be there in one hundred and forty hours… _Stop your grinning!"_

"No." Garagus's smile was staying. Flying the ship at light speeds was the part of the job he lived for.

* * *

With the ship in autopilot for the second day straight, the only station that needed manning was the comms, but since there was no immediate urgency, Rhuba had suspended herself upside-down from the ceiling handrail and was bending_ up_ to touch her toes.

"She's _still_ going?" Granate asked as he came in from the Galley. He could tell Rhuba was working a sweat while Garagus stood by waiting with anticipation to see how far she could go.  
"How many have you done?"

"I don't know…" Rhuba gasped. "lost count… my back's getting sore, though."

"Your back?" Garagus walked up with his hands out, ready to catch her as she prepared to drop.

"yeah…" Rhuba slipped her feet out from the rails, leaving her hanging just by her tail until she was able to flip down, right side up onto the floor. She leaned back as far as she could until her spine clicked. "that's better. You ready?"

Garagus took a deep breath before going opposite to her on the bridge.  
Granate knew to stay back, but he couldn't help but feel worried that they might break something.

Garagus stepped forward throwing a right punch at Rhuba's face, only narrowly missing after she sidestepped away, but he lifted his left knee as he spun around to boot her with his right.  
Rhuba was able to block and grab his leg, but she was already quite exhausted after her exercises. But of course, this was what she wanted. She feels the best time to practice fighting was when she's physically spent, so her only option against this stronger opponent is to improve.  
Garagus's eyes were locked on hers as they fought. He'd only ever brake his stare if she were taking the offensive, but otherwise, she was in his sights at all times.  
She jumped up to kick him in the chin, but he battered his hands down on her foot before grabbing her by the hips and to slam her on the floor, pinning her in position.

Rhuba landed hard on her back, but after grabbing his arms, she pulled her legs up between his arms and pincered his neck between her calves and put as much tension on as she could.  
Garagus's grip loosened as he tried to pull away and free his neck, but she didn't let go of him.  
Her hands clung to his wrists just as hard as she was trying to choke the air from him.  
Garagus shut his eyes, struggling to pull a breath in. He wheezed, jerking his head forward in a nod.

"Do you give up?" Rhuba gently let go with her legs. If he pulled way right that second, it would count as a forfeit, so she wasn't worried about him taking advantage of her mercy.

_"ess,_ yes, I give in." He coughed.

Rhuba completely relaxed her body and the pair of them collapsed on the floor panting for breath, especially Garagus. All while Granate just looked at the pair of them as he sipped his tea.  
"How is that fun for you?" He asked rhetorically but knew he was probably going to have an answer by the time he took his seat.

"It's just a game," Rhuba said as she rolled over onto her knees and began rolling the stiffness from her shoulder. "It feels good to fight."

"I thought you two avoided war?"

"Well yeah," Rhuba leant over Garagus as he still tried to recover on the floor "We like fighting_ each other. _Not fighting our king's battles."

"Uh-huh," Garagus put his arm across her and threw her over onto her back again so he could sit up. "I actually met our king when I was ten. _He was hard going."_

As Rhuba got back up, her eyes drifted to his tail. Hearing him talk about what was done to him and the other Alpha children made her uneasy as a girl, but they were promised that their weakness would soon be nullified if they could endure until the end.  
Now Garagus is almost entirely immune to the paralysing pain brought upon when someone grabs his tail. An act that if he'd employed during their sparring match, would have guaranteed a loss for Rhuba.

"I remember you crawling into our den, tail between your legs. All sad, but _trying to be brave."_ Rhuba was pouting her bottom lip out to him, but she could feel the heat building behind his eyes.

"And I remember you, skinny little Rhuba that no one wanted to be around because you'd bruise from _sneezing_ too hard."

"oh shut up," She was about to slap him with the back of her hand, but she felt something curl threateningly around her tail. "Don't…" She warned, looking at his menacing state as his finger and thumb held her tail in place.  
Already she could blood rushing around the area he was holding. One press and she'd feel as though needles are sticking in every artery she has, making any and all resistance futile on her part.

Garagus would occasionally tease her with the threat of pinching her tail, but never actually followed through on it. Despite knowing this herself, the natural response from a Saiyan in this situation is to freeze up and Garagus enjoyed watching that bratty demeanour of Rhuba's be replaced with the pleading and submissive look she had on now.

"Right," Granate ordered Garagus to take the bridge for the nightshift and relived Rhuba until morning. "Get to."

Garagus gently released Rhuba and even offered a hand to get her back on her feet.  
_"send you with your tail between Your legs,"_ He whispered to her.

_"sleep with an eye open..." _She whispered back wandered off to her room while Garagus took Granate's place at the helm.

Garagus looked in annoyance at the screens.  
"Why do I need to be here? We're in autopilot," He asked before the captain had left.

"True, but I'm separating you both." Granate called back before disappearing off the bridge.

Garagus turned his seat back to the black void of endless space, as the view had been and will continue to be for many hours yet.  
Although, Granate did leave his tea and it was still hot.  
_"it's mine now,"_ Garagus sighed before taking a sip as he sat back to watch the stars ever so slowly come nearer.


	3. Chapter 2: Blind Spot

**Chapter 2: ****Blind Spot.**

* * *

Orders given by Freeza are given Once. You fail, you're punished.  
It's rare to have not just the order, but follow-ups reaffirming it.

"All Saiyans are to remain on planet until further notice," Rhuba muttered to herself, reading a redirected message from Cressin for the fourth time.  
According to her mother, the last Saiyan pod returned three days ago and people are starting to get rowdy waiting for an explanation for the recall. But what was eating Rhuba and Garagus, was the fact that this means they're late.

Another message popped up from her mother for her to read.  
{Rumour is that King Vegeta is going to have a talk with Freeza about calling everyone back}

Rhuba replied, asking if Freeza was there on the planet. First and last time Freeza was on their world, it was during Cold's abdication. Freeza killed several Saiyans just to make a point of dominance that day.  
So naturally, Rhuba was worried for her mother.

{No, the King has just boarded his ship with his top men. They're leaving the world. How far away are you?} Cressin replied.

"Garagus, how long before we arrive?" Rhuba called over her shoulder while typing her message.

"We're in the binary system now," Granate answered so Garagus could concentrate on his work. "we'll have to slow down for approach though."

"Okay." Rhuba sighed as she looked over the keys to finish her message one letter at a time.

She'd only typed out seven more characters by the time a new and sudden notification appeared on screen, along with a loud alarming tone.  
_"Unknown vessel, state your identification now!"_

"Switch," Granate ordered, stepping up from his seat to swap with the crew.

Now in the copilot seat, Rhuba was able to see the rose-coloured clouds that incased her planet. With it seemingly so close, she had a distant feeling of familiarity. Although she wasn't looking forward to the landing.  
The increased Gravity meant Garagus would need to do some serious calibrating on his end, unless Granate took over.

"Understood," Granate said at the end of his chat with the caller. As he approached the pilot seat again, Rhuba and Garagus switched back to their stations.

When Rhuba sat down, she was confused as to why her chair was spinning slightly.  
The artificial gravity aboard the ship orientates to the floor while in space, so usually there's no problem, but it's far from perfect and so sudden or sharp turns or bursts of accelerations still gets felt by the crew.

"Where are we going?" Garagus asked.

"We've been ordered to flee. This system is closing off."

_"Why?"_ Garagus looked at his screen after hearing a noise. "… wait, I'm detecting two ships…"

"The order came from Lord Freeza's ship..." Granate angled off towards another planet in the system before doing a full orbit. "I don't know what makes Freeza's ship give orders like that, but I'm curious now."  
He positioned the ship so it was 'hugging' the thermosphere above the planet's Northernmost point.

"wait, the ships just vanished?" Garagus announced with some confusion.

"yep," Granate said, crossing his arms as he watched ahead. "Radar has trouble figuring things out around this altitude over a planet."

The blind spot also affected communications, so Rhuba approached the two pilots.  
"So we're not fleeing?" She asked as she looked out to see if home was still visible.  
It looked smaller than a quarter of its size from the last sighting, but she could still see her world.

"Did you hear the warning?" Granate asked. "The man on the other side warned us about a astroid shower approaching."

"So, why _aren't_ we feeing?" Rhuba asked. She's not been in an astroid shower before, but she's seen the craters cause by them on moons and the likes.

Granate scoffed as he leaned forward. "Because I've been living with two monkeys for the better part of three years... But only now do I smell _shite"_

A loud hiss came from Garagus's nostrils as he failed to contain his chuckles.

"Are you saying we smell bad?" Rhuba demanded.

"I'm saying, that the warning was a lie," Granate told her. "I just… if there were a astroid shower incoming, we could avoid it easily. _The manoeuvre I just pulled_ to put us in orbit was tricker than simple _evasive action._ So I see no need to retreat from an entire star-system just because of a few falling rocks, especially when the Flagship of Freeza's forces is stationed _right._.. _there!" _He pushed a button.  
On the screen ahead, the three of them could see Freeza's ship hovering just over planet Vegeta. "I wish the image was clearer," Granate muttered.

"Could we get closer?" Garagus suggested.

"Not without their radars picking us up again."

"What if they're staying for weeks?" Rhuba groaned.

"Then you better get comfy."

"dammit," She muttered. "Could we light speed away?"

"You tell me," Granate asked, spinning his chair to her. _"Could we?"_

Rhuba knew he wouldn't ask if the answer wasn't known to her already. Probably no giving the context, but he wants her to explain _why_ that's the case.  
"Without the scanners, we can't search for collisions ahead. Collisions at light sped would tear the ship apart…" She then looked back at Freeza's ship. "if we move to a position where the scanners will work, they'll detect us."

"Well said," Granate told her. "remember that okay. A tiny oversight, and boom." He saw her nod in acceptance. But then her face turned white, he felt Garagus nudge his arm.

"Granate…" Garagus said in an astonished voice.

Granate turned to see the monitor. Freeza's ship looked like it was blowing up.  
At first at least.  
There was a glowing orange orb, but it was hovering above the ship and expanding at an alarming rate.  
It looked like a small sun.

Garagus's scouter started beeping. Since it runs off of different signals, the blind spot wasn't affecting it.  
He was torn between wanting to check the scouter and keeping his eyes on the screen. In the end, he gave in and attached it to his head.  
"power level…" He was at a loss. What scared him most, was that the scouter was able to identify the source. When he looked up again, he could see the biologically-generated sun slowly fall on the planet directly below Freeza's ship.

The rosy clouds Rhuba hoped to see up close, turned a burnt yellow before shining into a painfully bright shade of white.  
To see an explosion happen right in front of them but neither hear the bang nor feel the tremble. It felt unreal in so many ways.  
What was once a world was now a blinding white inferno, scattering huge chunks of molten rock, flying off into space forever.

Granate was only just getting his bearings. Only now coming out of the same hypnotic trance of terror bestowed upon the three of them, but even then he couldn't think how to operate the ship. The controls may as well not exist for all he understood them at that moment.

Garagus's scouter was still beeping, giving all the readings it was detecting. But Garages just pulled it from his face. His tears were starting to fog the screen anyway. Everyone he knew or cared about had just been evaporated.  
Although his voice fell on deaf ears, Rhuba's sudden sharp cries did not.

Garagus turned away from the screen hold Rhuba. Nothing she said was coherent, she could only let out unintelligible wails as her mind began to fathom what she'd seen.

Granate could hear Rhuba crying and Garagus's futile attempts at comforting her, but he knew he'd nothing to offer himself.  
What could he possibly say or do to make anything easier? All he could too was look ahead and wait for Freeza's ship to disappear.

Freeza's ship waited in position four around forty-five minutes before leaving the System, the debris from Planet Vegeta were becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.  
They were warned about meteors, and there are many.  
With a heavy heart, Granate steered the ship out into deep space.

* * *

In their room, Garagus hadn't left Rhuba's side. She's cried herself asleep holding onto him, but even then he couldn't leave. He wanted to be strong for her, but they both lost everything.

He lost his brother, his parents, friends. They both loved Rhuba's mother. Their home, their race, the entire world. It was like a blur in his mind that he couldn't process.  
The forests he used to play in, the canyons where he learned to fly. The old den he lived in with Rhuba and Cressin. None of it existed anymore. It's all been reduced to space dust.

He pulled Rhuba in closer. She was lucky to be asleep, but he had a single minute playing over and over before his eyes that he couldn't get rid of.  
When he remembered it happening, he could hear a bang in his mind. But, of course, that was just his imagination filling a space with an expected outcome.

It was silent as the grave aboard the ship from that moment until the following morning, where Rhuba woke before anyone else and for a small blissful moment, she'd forgotten what happened.  
But finding some of her black hair stuck to her face by dry tears reminded her of the horrific event she witnessed.  
The room was dark. She and Garagus still in their armour form yesterday, him still asleep. She didn't say a word as she left the room to enter the bridge.  
The ship was on autopilot. No particular course was set, just a safe direction in which to flee.

Rhuba walked to her station and brought up all the messages from home. She planned to read every single one of them in order. The voice and text messages were the only things she had of her mother.

But there were some _new_ messages. Two of them were just demands for a reply that she ignored at the time because of the retreat orders from Freeza's ship, but a new voice message was also there.  
What's more, it arrived nearly an hour After the destruction of their planet.

"mum…?" She gasped excitedly as she hit play.

Sometime later, Garagus woke up in an empty bed. He felt for Rhuba only to find her missing, then he rose up to look for her.  
She was easy to find. He just had to follow Cressin's voice.  
"Rhuba?" He asked as he walked in on her sitting by her station with her face in her hands, silently sobbing to herself.  
He had no idea how long she's been sitting there, but he rushed over.

_"-I don't know what's going on, I can hear people screaming outside… call me the moment you get a chanc—…" _The following noise sounded like a flash fire igniting, followed by the message cutting off.

"Rhuba…" Garagus softly put a hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off and hit the play button again, resetting the message from the start.

_"Please tell me you're not too far away now? There's talk that all the docks are closed off now, so maybe you'll have to land out in the canyons. I'm starting to get the idea that if you can't get here soon, you maybe should just stay way. Things are really getting tense, and there's mention that Freeza…"_ There was distant shrieks of terror in the background for a minute. _"what the hell was that? Rhuba, something's happening… I don't know what's going on, I can hear screaming outside… call me the moment you get a chanc—…" _

Garagus caught her wrist before she could hit play again. While keeping a firm hold of her hand, he pleaded with her to stop.

Rhuba's burning wet eyes were lost in the floor. She couldn't look at him, nor could she feel anything when he began to hold like he had all night.  
"I thought she got away somehow…"

"I'm sorry," Garagus kissed her hair. "I am." He was sorry. But more than that he was scared and angry.

The scouter identified the origins of the blast that took away their home. It was obviously a deliberate act to exterminate the Saiyans.  
But the scary part was that it wasn't a super-weapon mounted aboard Freeza's ship that caused it.  
The blast was produced and launched from Lord Freeza himself.


	4. Chapter 3: What Comes Next

**Chapter 3.  
****What Comes Next.**

* * *

Garagus felt tiny after seeing the power Freeza commanded at his fingertips, like a blade of grass standing before a blazing forest.  
There was no doubt in his mind that he and Rhuba only live due to sheer luck alone.  
They would have died had Rhuba got the recall message any sooner, and arriving too late may have caused them to misunderstand what happened.  
They might have thought it _was_ an accident, because for what reason would Freeza have to destroy a planet of loyal soldiers?

But why doesn't matter anymore. The fact remains that Freeza, for whatever reason, sought to commit genocide.  
Garagus and Rhuba are the only Saiyans left, as far as the crew knew, and for the time being there was an unspoken understanding that it would be safest to accept that as fact.  
To go searching for answers, asking questions to Freeza's men, it'll only be a matter of time before Garagus and Rhuba find themselves standing powerless before the tyrannical Freeza.  
And that's only assuming he sought fit to do it in person. It's far more likely he'll send someone else to kill any surviving Saiyans.

"How is she?"

"Same as yesterday," Garagus threw the ice-cold protein loaf in the food disposal and went to clean the dishes. "She's still not talking either. She just… stares out the window" It was crushing him to see Rhuba so absent. He felt so useless.

Granate went to make some tea for himself and Garagus. Since Rhuba was unresponsive, Garagus had been picking up their 'slack', despite that there had been no shifts since the event.  
The ship was on autopilot and the comms were off, but Garagus would make tasks for himself.  
Doing nothing made him anxious, but right now Granate needed him to listen.

When he returned to his seat he invited Garagus over, but the Saiyan was staring blankly at the one dish he'd taken into Rhuba with his hands stuck in motion to clean the already spotless plate.

"Garagus." Granate called.

"Agh… _shit…"_ He and Rhuba need to remind themselves to be gentle with almost everything they touch. But after zoning out and being lost in the horrific moment once again, hearing his captain's voice startled Garagus and his thumb dented the metal plate.

"We have plenty others." Granate reminded him. "Garagus, it's time we talk about what we're going to do."

"Right" Garagus nodded as he took a seat. He looked ready for orders but again, there was a distance to his eyes like he wasn't all there.

"Rel-…" About to say 'relax', Granate decided to give a more realistic suggestion. "you need to focus."

"I am focused," Garagus objected. "Tell me what to do and I'll do it."

"Are you able to fly the ship right now?"  
Garagus said nothing as he stood up and marched out of the galley to take the helm.  
"I haven't told you where to!" Granate called to him. _"Garagus!"  
_Both teas in hand, he followed the Saiyan through to the bridge. Garagus was just about to reset the autopilot for a new destination when Granate sat in the co-seat. "The location is saved under Home."

"Hmm," Garagus paid little thought to it while he programmed it in, but once the ship engaged he'd heard the destination in his head enough to question it. "We're going to your world?" Garagus thought maybe he was just worried, that maybe Granate is thinking he could warn his people before it's too late.

"Not we," Granate said giving him a look. "You know how to fly the ship. Your only mission is getting yourselves safe. So, just leave me with my people and find a world Far from Freeza space to hide."

Garagus was at a loss for words. For years he'd worked under Granate, flying through space and learning the trade. But he wasn't certain he or Rhuba could run the ship on their own, more importantly, this would make him a deserter.

"Would Freeza go looking for you?"

"Doubt it," Granate said with an almost smug tone. "My last copilot went home too. Freeza doesn't look for_ 'lost'_ scouts. We're the most expendable part of his force"

Garagus was told the person he replaced last was missing in action. But Granate knew this whole time he'd just left.

"Garagus. I planned to get a replacement so I could sneak away and enjoy what's left of my life. You Saiyans were supposed to be primitive, rowdy, _obnoxious," _Granate looked over his shoulder as if Rhuba were standing there. "Why did I have to get stuck with _you two_. A pair of ass holes would have been easy to ditch. But there I went and made friends." He sounded like he was disappointed.

Garagus was stuck between very conflicting messages. "I… I can't captain this ship. Rhuba's no pilot."

"You'll have to do what I did when teaching you then."

"Can't you come with us? I don't even know where to go."

Granate made a face before gesturing to himself, specifically his appearance.  
"I've got blue scales, and a head shaped like a fruit…" Or so people often inform him when they think they're clever. "And you've got…" He looked Garagus up and down, wondering where to even begin. "The random patches of hair on your heads and eyes, the tails… There is there's no planet I'm aware of where the three of us can comfortably coexist in with the locals. One or _both_ of us are going to be freaks. You don't need that sort of attention. What you Need, is to get yourself and Rhuba to someplace safe. _That's it._ That's _all_ you need to do now."

Garagus looked back towards his and Rhuba's room. Granate is giving him a ship to take her somewhere safe, all he has to do is remember everything he's been taught about running the ship, repairs, checking atmospheres, and of course, knowing where and how to find fuel.  
The full tank of fuel they have can last years if they conserve and coast between directions, only it's going to be harder with just the two of them and the way Rhuba is it might just be him.  
But for now…

"Destination set." Garagus turned the ship to face their new direction, then after enough thrust to lock their velocity, he shut off power to the engines.  
Their speed will not drop, nor will their direction change while in space. The only issue is that the autopilot cannot take control while the engine is manually switched off, but it can warn the crew before arrival.  
Sleeping through the alarm can mean 'landing' at light-speed, and not many are so enthusiastic about a destination that they're willing to arrive there in an atom vaporising crater.

It took a few days to arrive at Granate's homeworld. In that time it was just the men altering shifts of flying as Rhuba hadn't gotten out of bed once in that time. When it was time for Granate to leave, Garagus went beside Rhuba and sat her up by the shoulders to try and get her to drink something.

Rhuba's hand meekly took the cup and she had a few sips, same as ever.

"C'mon… _All of it!" _While Garagus held the cup to Rhuba's mouth, Granate watched with pity from the door.  
He didn't like Garagus' harsh tone, but he knew it must be frustrating.

Rhuba was withering away in front of them, and the best Garagus could ever get from her was those few sips a day.  
_"what's the point?"_ Rhuba turned her head from the cup, causing some of the water to spill down her vest.

"Granate is leaving," Garagus looked up to see their captain standing out of uniform. "Say goodbye, Rhuba."

She looked over her shoulder to see Granate. The cold and empty look in her eyes was not how he wanted to remember the once energetic and sarky Saiyan, but at least she got up.

While she walked over to her captain, Granate tried to muster some condolences. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you two surv-"

Rhuba pushed the terminal to shut the door between them. Garagus was about to stand between her and the bed, and get her to say something to Granate. But he changed his mind, knowing that being rude to a friend wasn't her intention, she just didn't have the energy to be polite.  
The whole, if you can't say something nice, approach.

"Granate is giving us the ship. We have a chance because of him."

"there's no point, Garagus…" Rhuba told him as she slumped onto the bed and ducked under the covers. "it's just us now."

Garagus wanted to tell her how he felt. That Cressin would have wanted her to be strong and keep going. That their whole race would want them to live on if for nothing else, to spite that bastard Freeza. But he left her with no words as he went to say his farewell to Granate.

"she's behaving so cowardly…" He muttered bitterly before standing at the airlock door.

The ramp was already leading toward the hash sandy terrain just out of view of the nearest town where Granate's family lived.  
"Don't be hard on her," Granate told him. "You always told me Saiyans are meant to be strong, be battle-ready all the time."

"we are…" Garagus cursed under his breath. "But she's letting the memory of our people down."

"Indeed. In the few years your people spent traversing space under Cold and Freeza's rule, they gained quite the reputation throughout the galaxy," Granate reached out to take Garagus's arm. "But you're _not_ cruel, or much anything like what you told me of your people"

Listening to this in silence was hurting his pride a little. He'd never harm Granate, but he could feel the hands of his family resting on his shoulder. Urging him to stand up for the Saiyans.

"If you were like the rest of your kind, you and Rhuba would most certainly have died."

"How can you be so sure?"

"You joined my crew knowing there wouldn't be much fighting involved. If you joined a team of Saiyans in those pods, you'd have gone home like the others." Granate looked out to the sunny dunes ahead of him. The heat entering the bridge was pouring sweat from Garagus, but he couldn't wait to feel the sand under his feet once more. "You and Rhuba are the Saiyans now. You can try to be what they were, or be who you are. It's your choice." He said with a smile before wishing them luck.

When Granate departed from his ship for the last time, the sound of the engines soon rang in his ears, and he watched the ship arc up overhead towards the blinding yellow sky.  
He felt sad to also be losing two friends, but he stands by his belief that having them hide on his home would be impossible.  
Neither of them can take the sun like he can and when Freeza's men found them, it would only be a matter of time before a team is sent to kill them.

What happens with the two Saiyans, is down to them now.


	5. Chapter 4: Landing

**Chapter 4.  
****Landing.**

* * *

Finding a star system outside of Freeza space with a suitable planet was hard.  
After so long of feeling helpless, Garagus had a digital chart of the three planets in the next local habitation zone of a star system. Warm enough for drinkable water, but the acidic elements in the atmosphere were too high for two of them, and the one furthest from the sun would have very cold summers and freezing winters.

"It'll do." He set a course for the world. It would take forty minutes while coasting to arrive. To go faster _was_ an option, but he wanted enough time to shower and eat something if he could.

In the Galley, he was shocked to find Rhuba sitting at a table. He just assumed she was under the bunched up quilt on the bed, but she seemed completely unaware that the cooking pot was hissing away on the stove behind her.  
Garagus rushed over, pulled out the crispy protein ball and sat it on the counter to cool while he refilled the pot with water.

The scary, hallow scream of the hot metal reacting to water shook Rhuba from her daze.  
"Garagus." She looked at the ball on the table. It's meant to be white and doughy, but her's was charred black on the bottom, and fading to bronze at the middle. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Garagus plopped another two capsules in the water before taking the burnt one to the table. He was able to tear off small chunks that crunched in his mouth, but he could eat it for now.  
The softer centre though, he scooped out and offered to Rhuba.

"thank you." She took small bites. After all this time, she was so hungry that it was painful to eat. Her arm, leg and torso muscles were still showing, but her face showed skeletal features. And the way she sat and moved was so frail. "how long since…?"

"Seventeen days. And in that time you've drunk maybe, four cups of water." Garagus told her as he broke another flake off. "When is it going to stop?"

Rhuba was without words. She felt herself she was acting shamefully. Leaving Garagus to run the ship on his own while she lay in bed all this time.  
"Is Granate really gone?"

Garagus nodded, reiterating her words that it's just them now. "We're going to get through this. We just need to get our heads down, and figure this out."

"I don't, want to…" Apathy had consumed Rhuba all this time. The crippling hunger that got her out of bed did little to change her attitude towards their situation in general though. With the loss of their planet, what else is there?  
"come back to bed with me."

"I'll sleep when we land, Rhuba."

"and then what?" She asked as he rose from the table. "we land… then what?"

Garagus didn't know how to answer. He didn't really understand the question. Surviving together has always been the goal. Be it evading his father, staying out of the Saiyan war, even joining the crew was a means to keeping her safe.  
"What's changed, Rhuba?" He asked while checking how the pot was doing.

"Everything's changed!" Rhuba insisted as she stood up behind him. "Our Planet's gone. _My_ mother, _Your _troop. I wish we'd just died too, at least then we wouldn't be-"  
She found her self held against the wall with Garagus's arm pinning her in place across the chest. In her healthy state, she could have shoved him away, but this was hurting her, not that she'd dare show it.

"Do _Not_ say that!" There's no amount of their people he'd trade Rhuba for. Hearing her envy the dead was an insult to those that did die. She's alive. Many weren't so lucky, so it's time she got over it and be grateful.  
"Fortune favoured us, and kept us from home._ If you give in,_ you let that _bastard_ win! I won't have that, Rhuba!"

Rhuba's resolve let up at that moment. She slid down the wall and sobbed into her knees. "I'm sorry" She cried. "I just, don't think I can do this."

"…Rh…" Garagus was about to demand that she accept it and move on. Like it or not, she's going to survive and he'll make sure of it. For the sake of the Saiyan race, they must push on. But the ship's autopilot called out to give them the ten-minute warning.  
His trembling hand was hovering over the weeping woman. "Are you going to help me land the ship?"

She didn't say anything. Didn't even shake or nod her head.

"Then just… eat something and go back to the room." Landing solo is possible. He'd seen their old captain do it. But this will be sink or swim. He took the burnt protein ball away with him. The crunchy texture didn't do much to dull what little taste there was to begin with, although its black parts were beyond salvage.  
All the same, Garagus took a big bite off the top before setting the rest down on the copilot seat.

Scanners showed an oxygen-rich environment and according to the scouter, life already exists on the planet with a laughable average power level of Nine, which put a smile on Garagus's face.  
It's not his intention to cause issues for the natives but on the off chance of things turning hostile, it's comforting to know that he could piss harder than they collectively can punch if it came to a fight.

The transition from space to world felt like smooth sailing followed up with going over a waterfall, but he was able to level the ship and slow its descent and the dampeners were doing their job too.  
The ship touched down nice and smooth without the need for much calibration. Garagus presumed that the planet's softer gravity was probably a deciding factor in the native's low power level.  
If anyone local had the chance to visit Vegeta, they'd have been crushed the moment they stepped outside the artificial G-fields of their vessel.

Garagus set the ship to save power. Lights, heating, and drinking water will be turned off after some scouting on foot.  
With a deep breath, he stepped out the airlock and tasted the air. He knew it was breathable because the scanners said so, but the chemical composition means little to him.  
If it was in the red, he'd be more cautious. But it was in the clear, so he wanted to fill his lungs and decide for himself if either of them should waste their time leaving the ship or not.

The air was cool, clean, fresh from the wild trees. Not like the recycled stuff on the ship. But the air carried snow and frost with it. A radical change from that desert of the last world he scouted.

"Wonderful." He said to himself. As the night breeze picked up, Garagus let his inner energy lift him from the ground, and fly higher than the ship and nearby trees.  
About a mile away, how found a mist coming from a valley. It was like a cloud rising from the ground.

He could feel a damp heat as he hovered inside, nothing like ones in the sky. Leaving the mist to inspect from the outside, he descended lower to the ground and with his eyes no longer fixed on the strange cloud, he could see what looked like the tops of houses.  
Garagus hadn't planned to find any locals this early, so keeping out of sight felt like the best idea for now.

It was late at night so the place seemed empty and with his scouter telling him where every individual was as he got closer, paying very close attention to his surroundings as he investigated the source of the cloud and the intense heat on this frosty planet.

The houses were built off the ground. Wooden posts and beams keeping them supported, as well as walkways that connected doors. Garagus suspected that maybe it's to keep animals out. But surly any animal worth fearing would be able to climb up the five or six feet distance anyway.  
Besides, in the outer parts of town were clear stairways into the platforms anyway.  
So who's it keeping out?

In any case. Keeping his feet on the ground meant he was out of view of the windows of the houses and the scouter didn't detect any animals on his level. Even the mist was clearer to see through down this low, so it all worked in his favour, for now at least.  
The ground nearer the centre of the town becoming more firm. There was a stony, gravely terrain anyway but the further in he went the more it became solid.  
But he also heard bubbling. Water filters sometimes have noises like that. Some trickling. But everything here is made of wood, would they have machines like that?

_"Hmm?"_ His boot splashed in some shallow water. Thankfully, no one heard him, but he traded carefully just to make sure. Flying would be silent, but would also make him more noticeable and take him out of this less intense part of the fog.  
But a few more steps in, Garagus jumped as high as he could out from the water and landed hard on the wooden planks.

In a frantic panic, he pulled is soaking boots off to save his feet from the burning water that has begun to fill the inside. His escape from the harsh surface into the walkways didn't go unnoticed, however.

In a house next to where he landed, the clatter woke the woman inside. Rising from bed, she grabbed a long wooden pole and ran outside.  
The white mist was thick tonight, but she could see out thirty or so meters. More than enough to see what was going on.  
On the walkways, she could see damp patches. The water doesn't rise this high, so someone was in the spring.

It's common for young folk to try and play in the hot water despite the warnings not to at night, but looking over the railing, she couldn't see anyone else down there. It wouldn't have been the first time she'd had to hoist some idiot form the spring, but whoever it was must have climbed out on their own.  
After a sigh to herself over getting out of bed for nothing, she dropped her guard and began walking back to her hut.

But as she turned back, she saw in the shadow. Someone was sitting in the dark.  
"Were you down there?" The woman asked as she stepped forward. "Did you get hurt?" She could see the person wasn't some daft kid, but he wasn't looking to be much of a threat either.

Although, the whites of the stranger's eyes were visible, and he looked focused on her.  
"What… what's your name?" Seeing him stand up and start to come closer was enough to spook her. "That's close enough, who are you? Where do you come from…?" The pole was pointed like a weapon. Its only real use is for pulling people from the surface onto the walkway, but it will hurt if you swing hard enough. "I don't want to hurt you stranger, so tell me what you want."

"Yagon."

"… pardon?" She asked.

"My name is Yagon. And I come from the stars. I want to live Peacefully on your world. Do you think this is possible?"

The woman got angry. "Are you making fun of me? Speak sense!"

The man smirked and put his hands out to the sides.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

As Garagus gathered energy needed to fly, the surrounding mist began blowing away from him. He, of course, knew this would happen. In extreme cases, even small rocks will scatter before he took off.  
The woman standing next to him was being blown back too, but she'd never guess it was him causing the stir of wind.

"I'll be back tomorrow, be sure to warn people of my arrival. I'd rather no one panicked."

"You're not going anywhere- _Huh!?"_ The woman was left gobsmacked when he shot off, leaving a short-lived hole towards the sky before it closed over. _"from the stars."_ She gasped.

Was she dreaming? Was this real?  
She went back to bed but wasn't able to sleep. Tomorrow she'll need to get people ready for whatever that guy is. He said he wanted peace, but also said to warn everyone.  
What the hell was she meant to tell everyone to convince them that she saw a flying man when she herself wasn't all that convinced.


	6. Chapter 5: In Memory

**Chapter 5.  
****In Memory.**

* * *

When Garagus arrived back at the ship, it was a relief to be out of his armour and soggy boots. After getting into bed, he found Rhuba under the coverers in the foetal position.

"what are you doing?" He asked her after pulling the covers away.

_"I can't sleep."_

"that's a surprise, it's all you've_ been_ doing."

Rhuba could see the contempt in his face as he pulled the cover back over, shutting her in the dark and turning his back on her. She pulled herself up towards the head of the bed.  
"Why can't you understand how I feel?" She yelled, letting out days of repressed rage. "My mother… she took care of you too, or have you forgotten already?"

Garagus sat up, looking down at her with that same look in his face.  
"Of course not! If your mother hadn't taken me in, I'd have either been killed or lived long enough to be like the rest of the Alphas, _or 'Elites' or whatever they called themselves…"_ He grumbled. "But I'm not going to sit about and wait for death. We'd still be in Freeza space if I followed your example. So either shut up and help me or just shut up!"

Rhuba's eyes were swelling. But she was able to nod to him. Garagus fell back against his pillow, staring at the far wall. But behind him, he could feel her getting up. Then heard her walking across the floor.

At first, he thought she was going to the bathroom, but she headed towards the hallway door.  
"Where are _you_ going?"

"So I can talk now?" She didn't even look back as the door slid shut.

Garagus chased after, but when he looked into the hall, he just caught a glimpse of her walking into Granate's old room. Since he was no longer on the ship, Rhuba saw no sense in leaving a perfectly good bed doing nothing.  
Garagus went back to bed by himself. Feeling the empty space next to him was infuriating.  
They've slept together every night since he moved into Cressin's den.

_"how dare she…"_ He grumbled before slamming his elbow on the mattress as he turned away. His own mother may as well have discarded him like everyone else in his troop, whereas Cressin put her own life and that of Rhuba's for a stranger's runt.  
Suggesting that he doesn't care what happened to Cressin hit a nerve, and to hear Rhuba say it…

His fist slammed against the wall in a small fit of rage. The wall panel cracked, leaving a huge indent that possibly could be seen from the other side.  
"dammit." He cursed as he lay back down.

In the whole universe, the ship is his only home now, and he's already damaging it. Rhuba is the only _person_ in the whole universe he cares about, she's fading away bit by bit.

_Why is everything about survival? _Rhuba thought as she rested against the pillow.  
Convincing Cressin to let Garagus in, staying out of the Tuffle conflict, those were survival moves too, but Rhuba was happy about them.

Garagus was a friend whom she loved dear even back then, and staying out of danger was obviously a smart move. But when they grew up, when they got took over by the military, Garagus wanted to see the stars and take her with him.  
But staying back home with her friends and doing odds and ends to make money was what she wanted.  
Being away from Garagus was tedious at times, but she'd wait all the same and love listening to the different worlds he'd been to.

Leaving her mother, friends and home to join this crew, being stuck in space for a year, just more survival tacts minus the wanting. And the feeling that she'd missed a whole year of home and family just to see them all get blown to bits right in front of her.  
It's like a sick joke the universe was playing, and now Garagus in being like this. He'd never been this angry at her before. Never yelled. Never _seriously_ told her to shut up.

_All I do is sleep?_ Rhuba watched through the window. The stars were sparkling outside. It was peaceful out there, but not in her head.  
Her eyes would shut and she'd wait in darkness.  
The truth is she hasn't slept much at all. Her vision was always clouded by pain whenever she tried.

* * *

"Stay here, Rhuba."

"Okay, mum." Rhuba followed her mother out through the burrow. Cressin would dash off barefooted across the grass towards the trees on the far end of the meadow, and Rhuba would stay with her head poking just slightly out to watch her go before slipping back into the den.

Living underground in a burrow means it's always rather cold and dark. Because of this, the floor was layered with soft skins from all their kills and in the middle was a fire pit.  
Rhuba waited by the fire for her mother to return. The draft from outside was blowing in through the tunnel, making her very chilly even with the freshly fed fire and her favourite fur wrapped over her shoulders.

Opposite the exit tunnel was a second opening that led to the bedding area. Lined with much softer, fluffier pelts and furs. To stay warm, Rhuba would often bury herself and snuggle up under the soft furs.  
She was so cosy and warm. Falling asleep was almost too easy.

But pretty soon, Rhuba woke to a sharp pain shooting right up her spine.  
Her arms seized for a second before going limp, then she felt a hard smack below her tail before dropping on the floor of the stinking den.

Gaining control of her arms and legs once more, Rhuba scrambled away from her enraged mother, sitting with her back against the far wall near the exit tunnel.

_"I've warned you,_ Rhuba." Cressin said as she too crawled over.

Rhuba sniffed and wiped her frightful tears, but didn't say anything. She could already see one of the pelts had been pulled away from the fire with some of it singed black with a smoking twig stuck to the burnt fibres.  
If Cressin hadn't come home when she did, Rhuba would have either suffocated in the smoke or burned to death when the fire got big enough.

But after a moment, those fears were washed away by a new feeling.  
Rhuba looked at her mother, and without a second thought crawled over and attached herself to Cressin.  
No words were exchanged. With her arms, legs and even her tail around her mother's torso. Rhuba was so happy just to have her back that she didn't want to let go. Not for anything.  
Suddenly, she heard a loud crash.

* * *

"Mum!" Rhuba yelped as sat up on her bed in a breathless panic. But there was no one but her in the room.

The furs were replaced by a quilt. The dirt walls were metal, and the burrow to the outside was a transparent alloy. She had been dreaming. That much was clear. But what was that noise?  
Was that part of the dream or, has someone come aboard?

Rhuba locked her jaw. Kept her eyes focused on the door as she stepped forward. Her right fist was ready to punch.  
Be it a Freeza soldier or some other intruder, their face is getting smashed if she doesn't recognise it.

The door slid open, and on the other side was a low lit hallway.  
Even fully awake, she felt she could still smell the burnt fibres from her old den.  
"who's there? Garagus?" She peeked around the corner. There was no one.  
Is he still in their room? Is he okay? She repressed her fear and opened the door to make sure he was alright.

By opening up from the outside, the room automatically filled with a dim light so the person could find their bed safely.

"What is it?" Hearing her come in, Garagus rolled over to see what she wanted.

"you're okay…" She sighed, then noticed the crack in the wall above the bed, and guessed the sound that woke her was him causing that damage.

"Rhuba…" Garagus sighed. "I'm, sor-…" Metallic popping rang thought out the ship, followed by another loud clang, causing both of them jumped at the sound.

As Garagus rose out of bed, Rhuba backed away and shut the door. "Someone's here… someone's in the ship…" She was trembling like a leaf. "we kill him…" She turned to Garagus.

Behind those tears and look of dread, was a small lingering flame of the fire that she was just a few weeks ago. But if this is Freeza's doing, that fire will be extinguished along with her if it comes to a fight.  
"Wait…" Was all Garagus could say. He had no words to negotiate or convince her to hear him, so he just held his hand out in front of her to keep her back as he took lead.

Rhuba stayed close behind to back him up. Every other second she'd check over her shoulder to make sure there was no one sneaking up.

_"Rhuba…"_ Garagus whispered as he turned to her. _"What's that smell?"_

Rhuba blinked at him. It was a strange thing to pick up on but now that he mentioned it, the air did carry a strong smell. She thought it was jsut her due to her dream, but it even felt warmer than it should.  
If she had to put a name to it, she'd say it was like burning metal.

_"oh no…"_ Rhuba half-covered her face in both hands and began to slide down against the wall.

Garagus had turned to face the oncoming corner, so he didn't hear her whimpered voice when he entered the canteen. His left arm was up in a guard while his right stayed ready to punch out his target.

The room was dark, the heat was getting more noticeable. Sometimes energy attacks emit heat. He wished he'd brought his scouter so he could track the source easier.  
He moved cautiously around the room, looking under tables and checking corners. It wasn't a big room, but there were lots of food containers people could hide in or behind.

"Rhuba, what are you doing?" He demanded.

She was walking across the floor, with her head down and tail hanging between her legs until she reached near enough where the stove was. It was still dark, but she bent down and hissed in pain, pulling her hand back.  
Deciding that the darkness was more of a hindrance to him than an advantage at this point, Garagus reached the panel and turned on the lights.

Rhuba was sitting by the table, holding her burnt hand while a black pot lay smouldering on the floor along with the charred remains of two protein balls.  
The stove had been left on. The water evaporated and one of the balls must have popped with the pressure and caused the pot to fall.

"god, dammit…" He mumbled, feeling the fear and adrenaline still rushing over him.

Rhuba only saw the shadow and feet of Garagus moving over to carefully pick the mess up. Her hand was still too red from the burn.  
Up until feeling the heat back from the hall, Rhuba couldn't even remember getting up to eat something.

_I walked back to the room, with the stove still on… what's wrong with me? _She flinched at the slight touch of Garagus's hand on her head.

"It's fine," He told her, retracting his hand at first. "lets just, go back to bed."

"It's not fine…" Rhuba shook her head. "you want me to be strong but… I'm completely useless now._" _

Garagus let her go as he thought back to how they met. A gathering of Saiyans. Weak and strong. The Alphas and the ones that dwell under the dirt.  
Ol Captain Granate came to mind too. He said before he left, that the Saiyans are whoever the both of them choose to be now.  
So obsessed with honouring the memory of his people, Garagus lost sight of the simple fact that everything he and Rhuba are was an affront to their people.  
When challenged by strangers, Garagus would stand his ground. When challenged by his own blood, Garagus stood his ground. When that didn't work, he and Rhuba would find a place they could be happy.  
Now they're miserable, both of them trying to be something out with their nature.

"I'm sorry Rhuba… we _did _almost die. You're right to be scared," Garagus held her by the shoulders gently, resting his head to the side of hers'. "But what happens when a Saiyan recovers from near death? Do you know?"

Rhuba shook her head.

"We rise up more powerful than we were before."

"Garagus…" Rhuba had no interest in Saiyan legends or fables.

"You will get stronger for living through this, I promise you…"

"Why? What's left to live for?"

Garagus saw the pleading look in her tired eyes. Rhuba needed a good answer, but what she got was him leaning in with his arms locked around her.  
"I'm _holding_ her." He said, head resting on her shoulder.

Rhuba felt slightly underwhelmed by his gesture, but the longer he held the more she felt guilty of all things. He'd lost just as much as she had, but he was still going for her.

Rhuba remembered the boy who'd get beaten up every other day, coming back to her den with a fresh bruise and often a bloody nose or lip. Months this would go on for.  
Rhuba was much like any other young girl and boys that can't fight are unimpressive to say the least and certainly not with her time.  
Yet somehow, she felt sorry for him and would sometimes offer sympathies and a cuddle, assuming his stubbornness didn't lead him to push her away, as it often did back then.  
But she kept spending time with him anyway and somewhere along the line, that boy stopped coming back with bruises and started coming back with tales of victory, and when someone almost twice Rhuba's size started giving her trouble at a gathering, Garagus, not even reaching the guy's shoulders in height, cracked him so hard in the jaw that the stranger didn't dare stand up to either of them again.

"okay…" Rhuba sighed, tightening her grip on his hands. "let's go."

Garagus kept on one knee, insisting she stands up first before he followed.

There was a moment of hesitation at the bedroom doors. Garagus wasn't sure which room she wanted to go in.  
_"C'mon."_ She kept a hold of his hand, leading him to their room.

"Are you okay?" Garagus asked, watching her climb over to her side by the window.

After slipping her legs under the covers, Rhuba stared up at the ceiling, feeling like she could pass out any second but also feeling like her headache would keep her awake forever.

"Rhuba, I shouldn't have told you to shut up," Garagus whispered as he climbed in next to her. "I'm sorry."

"I'm going to help more, I promise." She said back but Garagus could feel there was more going on under the sure tone in her voice.

"It would help me a lot, if you eat the food I make you tomorrow," He told her. "Eat, drink. Just, don't die… _please don't die…"_

Rhuba looked at her Alpha mate. He looked like he could leak tears any minute.  
"don't cry, wuss," She whispered with a painful laugh as she looked up to the ceiling. "every time I close my eyes I can see our planet explode."

"me too," Garagus replied, holding her hand under the covers.

"I just keep picturing the woods out past the den… _chasing you through the trees."_

Rhuba could remember it. She'd always spot him in flight. Such a cheater. He always _promised_ not to fly when trying to catch her.  
She rolled towards him while keeping their hands locked over her chest.

Garagus didn't understand what was going on until she was completely in his grasp, sharing body heat with him. What's more, he could feel her tail brushing past his knees. Almost on reflex, his own tail found and coiled around hers'.  
"remember the early days? Cressin sleeping between us."

"m'hmm." Rhuba could picture their den now. Bundled up under the furs in the pitch blackness with only the sound of their breath and the crackle of the fire in the sitting space.

So long as one person, usually mother, was awake, the fire could be left on without anyone getting yelled at. But if Garagus and Rhuba ever went off to bed together, their seclusion would last maybe a minute before the flame had water thrown over and Cressin would come crawling in to roll one or both of them over and make room for herself.  
It was expected, but still annoying.

Never the less, those cosy nights as a family were wonderful.  
Thinking about them helped Rhuba find enough peace of mind to sleep through the night.


	7. Chapter 6: First Contact

**Chapter 6.  
****First Contact.**

* * *

In times of peril for the Geyser folk, the guardian of the tribe would stand alone to protect the village.  
So after Palete told her trusted friends about the sky man's warning, it was decided that the guardian Kaburd should be informed.  
The mist was thick that morning as the pair climbed into a rowboat to cross the steamy water.

A small island growing an ancient tree resided in the centre of the boiling spring, hidden amongst the thick mist.  
The boat came to a sudden stop when it reached the shores, and the two aboard hopped off.

"How strong _is_ your grandfather?" Palete asked.

"I don't know. But _that's_ the first thing he killed as guardian."  
Tracking her friend's nod, Palete peered towards the roots of the large tree and spied an elderly figure, cross-legged and hunched over as he sat upon a giant skull, almost the size of her house.

Seeing how awestruck Palete was, Cuppa decided to advance on her own.  
"Grampa! My friend was visited last night. A man from the sky."

His muscles were toned, but his figure was very lean. Small dark spots marking his old age covered his head, shoulders and halfway down his open arms.  
Hearing his granddaughter's voice, he opened his eyes and gazed upon the two women.

"Is this true?" He asked in a crooked tone. "I am no stranger to the abnormal, but you must be certain this is real and not some hallucination from the mist."

"It's not, Master Kaburd. He spoke to me. Warning that he'll return today."

"And what does he want?"

"He said…" Is passing this message on even worth the breath to say it? "He said he wanted to live peacefully, with us."

"Hmm," Kaburd leant forward before rising swiftly to his feet. "That you have come to me says you have little faith he is telling the truth."

"Trust the word of a stranger with the lives of our people?" Palete shook her head, stating she'd rather be cautious than regretful.

"Very wise of you." He wandered to the shore of his island. "You have nothing to worry about, dear."

Palete cringed, watching him dip his bare hand into the boiling water, and with her eyes looking away from the Guardian, she was now looking at the ground.  
Because of the fog, at a distance it looked like there were two rows of white rocks leading up to the massive skull Kaburd was meditating on.  
But on closer inspection, they were something else entirely.

Kaburd raised his hand the water, holding within his grasp a skull with all the flesh and blood boiled away leaving nothing but clean bone.  
"If this stranger _is_ a problem, I'll simply add his to the others."

* * *

Rhuba nearly jumped from her skin after hearing Garagus's thundering sneeze. "What the hell was that?"

"I dunno, this planet's a frost ball. I might have caught a cold yesterday."

Rhuba sighed to herself as she sat with him for their morning meal. "If you're not feeling well, maybe you shouldn't go today." After all, it's just to introduce themselves. Rhuba didn't see any point in putting himself out if he can't make a good first impression. "Did you get a good look at these people? What are they like?"

Garagus tried to remember specifics about the woman he found. It was dark already and the mist was blocking most light from the sky. "Well they're shaped like us. Heads and arms'n that."

Rhuba nodded while rolling her eyes. This was pretty basic, but she'd bet somewhere these descriptions don't apply to the people there.

"Her face was, different." He described that her face was 'flatter', as in she didn't have a nose, ears or much of a chin.

"Did she get a good look at you?"

"Not sure. But I must have scared her. She had a weapon, stick,_ thing."_

"Well, maybe I should go too." Rhuba wasn't feeling a hundred precent yet, but Garagus agreed that being outside and standing on an actual surface will make her feel better.

After eating, the pair got dressed into more casual wear. Their armour is more versatile when it comes to withstanding weather and climates, but it could send the wrong message to appear in their town dressed as such.  
Luckily, their old captain had a wardrobe filled with clothing to deal with the cold. Lucky for Rhuba at least. She was snug wearing a fleece, matching trousers and boots while Garagus had to layer up on clothes his size.

"Here's a stupid idea. Why don't we take the ship? Just this one time."

"It's one mile, Rhuba."

"okay. But, if this world is meant to be where we start a fresh, don't you want to be nearer the neighbours?"

"Is that what you want?"

Rhuba nodded. So much of their life was spent was isolation, and what's the point of finding the locals if they were just going to keep a distance?

"You won't need that coat then. Getting there would have been cold, but the town is actually very warm."

"Right." Rhuba unzipped her top and slid off the trousers.

Although their armour might be seen as intimidating, the black leggings and shirt worn underneath are pretty uninspiring. Surely no one will feel threatened by someone wearing those. With those on, Rhuba just threw a loss fitting light blue vest to add just a little colour and hopefully make them less scary looking.

Garagus just wore a brown T-shirt along with the dark grey trousers he was already wearing.

"Garagus…"

"Hmm?" He looked up from bucking on his boots. Rhuba was staring outside through the airlock. Despite still being visibly weaker even after eating today, her skin was glowing in the sun's rays.

"This world is beautiful."

Garagus had only seen it in the dark of night, but when he looked outside from the pilot seat, the frost-covered mountains and valleys were sparkling like diamonds.  
"Can you see a pillar of cloud? That's where we're headed." Garagus ignited the engines and the ship started to rise.

Intending to keep her promise of helping, Rhuba moved into the copilot seat to start planning their landing. "There's a flat space large enough to land just outside of the village. Terrain is offset by thirteen degrees."

"… good to know."

It was a smooth glide to the town front. Being daytime, it was much busier than Garagus's last visit.

As the ship soared around to find a landing, Palete, Cuppa and Kaburd were making their way through the town.  
Nerves were high in the town seeing the unusual vessel descend, but seeing their Guardian calmed them down.  
"Be about your day everyone," Cuppa instructed the people she passed.

"We'll handle this." Palete added, sounding less sure than her friend.

Kaburd was silent. Shoulders square, head high and eyes fixed on the target.

_"I thought you said this man could fly? What's the floating house?"  
__"I don't know, he was flying yesterday- oh."_

Kaburd had came to an abrupt stop just outside the town. "I need to know what this one looks like."

"I didn't get a good look, but he's tall. Slightly darker scales than us, _I think._ He's got a black mane on his head and some fur over his eyes."

"Sounds, itchy…" Cuppa muttered to herself. _"That didn't tip you off he was a weirdo?"  
__"I thought it was a hat!"_

"Ladies please!" Kaburd insisted, whipping his right hand down to catch their attention.

"sorry master." "sorry granddad." The pair mutter together.

The three waited. The noise coming from the strangers' flying house was intriguing yet unsettling, as was watching the mist of frost and rocks spray from where it was preparing to land.

Once landed, Rhuba moved to the airlock while Garagus began the power down sequence. "Seems three of them have come to greet us. One of them your friend?"

"You're in a _very_ good mood today," Garagus wasn't complaining. He just wanted to make sure this wasn't a front to hide how she's actually feeling.

Rhuba does often laugh to mask pain. But between now and yesterday it's like the last few weeks never happened. "I'm just trying to stay positive for you." She sighed while maintaining her smile. "I had a dream where _you_ were depressed and gloomy. I came _this_ close to leaving you on some planet and going off on my own."

"Thanks Rhuba." Garagus gave her a hard pat on the shoulders as he passed by. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make sure we didn't leave the stove on."

Rhuba hissed playfully at him as he walked by. Once he was out of sight, she took a deep breath.  
Ground. Solid ground. It felt like an eternity had passed since she last walked on it.  
As the airlock slid open, she stepped foot onto the hard rocky surface. The warm, wet air dampened her face within seconds, and the breeze cut like glass in icy contrast.

While waiting for Garagus to return, the three Natives actually approached.  
"I am Kaburd of this village. This is my granddaughter Cuppa, and you know Palete."

Rhuba observed the three of them. Their faces closely resembled round-headed reptiles. Even their light yellow skin has the texture of scales.  
"I actually haven't met any of you," Rhuba stated, explaining that it was actually her partner that must have met Palete. As agreed over breakfast, she used a false name to address both herself and Garagus to help hide their Saiyan identity. "My name is Sorpper. My husband, Yagon will be out shortly."

As if on cue, 'Yagon' arrived out on the ramp and walked down to stand at her side. After another quick introduction, the village guardian asked where they are from and more importantly, why they have come.

"Our home was destroyed," Garagus answered. "As far as we know, we're the only survivors."

Their kind has never been seen before in the tribe's history, and they are conveniently the only two of their kind? Cuppa looked to her grandfather, hoping he felt as she did that this story was very suspicious.

"Palete tells me when she met you last night, it appeared that you were snooping. May I ask what for?"

Yagon nodded, saying he had not meant to find the village but was curious about the pillar of cloud rising from the ground.

Cuppa and Palete looked back at their village. They'd lived in the steam their whole life, but to an outsider, they could imagine it would be a point of interest.  
"If you want to see, I can take you to the springs." Palete offered, but after getting a disapproving look from Cuppa, she added, "With Kaburd's permission of course."

Kaburd looked the pair of outsiders over.  
Yagon stood taller than all of them, with very broad shoulders and wide muscular arms. Even his skinny wife seemed to have a confidant look in the way she carried herself.  
But the monsters that come from the wilds are fierce and as Guardian, Kaburd had slain many of them. If these two cause trouble for his tribe, their skulls will decorate his island.

"You have my blessing to enter the village and bathe in the springs. But I will be watching to make sure of no trouble."

Garagus and Rhuba nodded, but inside they were thinking about how any other Saiyan would have reacted. In particular, Garagus's brother could have wiped the village out with a single swish of his hand.  
"Bathe in the springs?" Rhuba asked him, only getting a shrug in response.

When walking through the village. Rhuba and Garagus were, of course, the subject of everyone's attention and no one was trying to be subtle of their curiosity. Dozens of eyes were on them at all times as Palete led them across the walkways over the boiling water.

"It's very creative of you to build your homes here." Rhuba was freezing after leaving the ship, but here she was sweating with all the steam.

"It can get bothersome at times. Often you can only see this far out because of all the fog." Palete held her arms out to show the guests what she was talking about.

But what caught Garagus's attention was her fingers. "You only have four fingers." He said with some intrigue.

"yes?" Palete looked behind at him and Rhuba, and almost jumped out of her shoes when she saw their hands.

Rhuba laughed watching the woman shiver in a grossed out display and found amusement in wiggling her hand out to her. _"Want to see?"_

Garagus thought Rhuba was being rather juvenile in offering her hand to Palete, but at least having fun and forming a bond with the natives was just such a nice change from the last few weeks of hopeless negativity.  
Rhuba just smiled while Palete started trying to figure which of the five would be the extra. Rhuba was watching Palete's hand too, and her best guess was the one between her middle and pinky the native people lacked.

_"your skin is so soft,"_ Palete gasped while feeling Rhuba's hand. _"like a hatchling…_ _Eh!-_ _This _doesn't hurt you does it?" New hatchlings of the tribe are very soft, but touching them too much can leave them with scarred tissue.

"No no, I'm fine." Rhuba could feel the rougher scales of Palete's hand. Not quite as hard as Granate's skin, but very different from Saiyans none the less.

"We don't let young ones in the spring because it burns them, so I'm not sure,"

Garagus curled the toes in his right boot as they got most of the pain from when he stepped in a puddle last night.

Rhuba took a look over the rail herself and could see the waves sloshing forward on the hot stones.

"Why is your town built here?" She asked. "Is it not dangerous?" As Saiyans, both she and Garagus are used being thrown to the wolfs and expected to adapt and overcome. However, falling into boiling water isn't exactly something a child can fail against and expect to toughen up or getting stronger.  
One slip would mean certain death.

"It's too cold to build anywhere else. The thing is, Kaburd offered you a bath in the spring, I'm afraid it might hurt you."

"We're already clean." Rhuba pointed out. But Palete said it's how they greet outsiders.

"We're a small tribe. But bigger ones exist out there, and sometimes we fight for the springs. We're letting you sit in the water to welcome you in good faith."

"I see."  
In many ways, this felt like when Rhuba took Garagus home. Although he was born to an Alpha troop, he respected Cressin's laws while living in her den. He didn't want to offend Rhuba's mum anymore than he wants to offend these people.

Palete led them down a ramp. It led to the white rocky surface that incased an isolated pool of calmer water. It's not as deep or as hot as the rest of the boiling lake, but enough for several dozen to easily relax in at the same time.  
Near the middle of the pool was a boulder the stuck four feet from the water. There was a battle taking place in the water for control over the rock.  
"No!" Someone yelled before her ankle was grabbed and she was pulled into the water. Within seconds someone else had claimed dominion over the pool, only for her to be dethroned immediately after.

Watching the game made Palete nostalgic of when she was younger. "Ignore them if you can." She advised.

"Everyone!" A voice called from above. Palete, Rhuba and Garagus turned to see Kaburd standing on the walkway watching over them. "These are guests of mine. Do not be alarmed by them."

Most people in the pool hadn't even noticed their visitors. But now most of them were somewhere between frightened and curious of them, though with their Guardian nearby they felt secure at least.  
Garagus and Rhuba introduced themselves by their fake names, but everyone proved to be warier than the welcoming party.  
Rhuba looked at the nervous faces of everyone, admitting to Garagus that maybe they should come again tomorrow once the idea of meeting a new race of people has settled more.

"Don't worry." Palete pulled off her tunic and walked towards the pool's edge, suggesting that they should do the same.

"What do you think?" Garagus asked.

"She said I have skin like a hatchling," Rhuba answered, observing the young girls at the edge of the pull with their feet soaking in. "If they can handle the heat, so will I."

Garagus had already been burned by a puddle. He told himself it was the shock of going from cold to hot that quickly that hurt him more than the heat.  
"time to prove it." He sighed as he pulled off his shirt. When he saw Rhuba about to pull down her leggings, he dashed forward to stop her. _"tails."_ He urgently told her.

Rhuba pulled her leggings up again. The pair looked around. All eyes were on them, and this will not go unnoticed.  
_"they don't know what we are." _She whispered back, but she had a gut feeling that this could be the careless act that begins their downfall. "I've got an idea." She widened out the waistline of her pants, making way for her tail to wrap around her hips.

She hoped everyone assumed she was just shy and not deathly terrified of being discovered that prompted this behaviour. But she pulled her leggings off all the way and set them next to her top and shoes.

Garagus looked around at everyone before having a proper look at her. Her pant-line had a visible bulge all the way around where her tail is concealed.  
"there's a knife on the ship, we can remove our tails-"

_"no!"_ Rhuba gave him an appalled look. "we'll hide them, but I'm not mutilating myself."

"Are you alright?" Palete asked from the edge. From behind Rhuba's body just seemed consistent with what she'd seen already, so the concerns Rhuba and Garagus were having was so far unwarrented.

"Yeah I'm good." Rhuba laughed to hide the fear. Garagus watched her step into the water. Hotter than the shower on the ship, but not unbearable after a few attempts at keeping her foot in. Rhuba was a little nervous about how deep it was since her foot has disappeared below the green soup as soon as she was knee-deep.  
It took time to get over the heat, but once she did she felt amazing.

"fine." Garagus hid his tail in his underwear like Rhuba had but he still felt cutting them off would be the better solution. After all, it's not like removing the tail is permeant anyway.

Like Rhuba, Garagus hissed and endured getting into the hot water.  
"Why are we doing this?" He asked, struggling to adjust.

Palete told him that strangers on their feet are more likely to fight, whereas bathing together opens more peaceful exchanges.  
_"Nooo!"_ Screamed one of the girls after being pushed from the centre rock. The irony was not lost on Palete. "They're just playing a game. Not the same."

After some time, Rhuba and Garagus were absorbed by the water and had completely forgotten that they walked across ice and snow when they left the ship just half an hour ago.  
They were still getting looks of course and some kids would walk by more than once to see them up closer.  
Rhuba even caught Palete staring at them a few times. But it seemed like she was drawing comparisons, particularly with the shape of their chests.

_Darn reptiles_. Rhuba thought while crossing her arms over, realising she her's were the only set of tits at the pool. And going by everyone else, possibly the only set on the planet.

"Say, Palete." Garagus asked, leaning forward. "Where are the men of your village?" Garagus noticed that he was the only male at the pool.

"It's just Kaburd," Palete answered. "Do you have more where you're from?" She asked with a sudden intrigue that quickly vanished when she realized. "oh, sorry…"

"It's okay." Rhuba sighed. Thinking of home got her through the night. Talking about it in general terms might make her feel better still. "On our world, there were just as many men as women."

Palete was taken back, blinking to herself as she tried to process that. "So, how do you know who to mate with?"

While Rhuba tried to engage stone face mode, Garagus blurted out a half chuckled answer.  
"You wait until dark and throw a rock randomly at a crowd and whoever the unconscious twit with the fresh lump is, that's your man." Garagus loved the stare Rhuba was giving him. It was an obvious joke, but Palete didn't look like she understood that.

"We just choose who we like," Rhuba confirmed after dismissing Garagus's first impression. "But how does it work here? If Kaburd dies, how will your people continue?"

Palate sink into the water slightly. She was looking away like this topic was embracing. "My friend _Cuppa_ wants to take his place. She's desperate." Palete finally said.

Rhuba and Garagus gave each other a look, but before they could ask further into the mater, a shadow followed by a loud gust of wind swept over everyone in the pool.  
"What the hell was that?" Rhuba asked staring into the twirling whips parted steam above.

"oh no…" Palete rose out the water staring at the central rock where the kids were playing. The girl who was just standing on top had vanished.

"What just happened?" Garagus demanded.

After two seconds of deafening silence, Kaburd, armed with a spear on his back, leapt across the pool, hopped off the centre rock to land on the opposing the cliff edge then started climbing up like a spider.

"he'll get her back…" Palete muttered in a teary preyer.

Garagus looked at everyone. No one with giving him information. Just sitting and hoping for the best.  
He stood out the water as shook himself off. After a deep breath, the shockwave of him blasting through the air took everyone at the pool by surprise.

Once out of the steam pillar, he saw what looked like a large feathered bat flying over the frozen valley. It was bigger than Granate's ship, with a wingspan of four times the length.  
Garagus soared over immediately but looking at the ground, he could see Kaburd running after the bird too. Somehow he was actually keeping up as he dashed barefoot through the tundra.

Garagus didn't feel like waiting to see how the rest of his rescue would go though. After all, he was already within grabbing distance of the missing kid caught in the bird's grip.  
Up close, bird's talons were big enough to pick up Garagus, and possibly sharp enough to cut him in half. But he'd eaten larger animals than this.  
He wrapped his arm around the bird's left ankle, and started pulling to the ground.

The bird screeched, feeling like it had started carrying twice its own wight. Flapping wildly trying to get airborne, the bird dropped the girl.  
Garagus let go of the bird to pursue her. He flew below with his arms out to take her well before she hit the ground.  
She was ice cold and shaking with fear thinking her life had ended from the moment she was plucked from that stone.

Garagus landed down in front of Kaburd, who couldn't believe what he had seen. "When Palete told me you could fly, I did not believe it. Then I saw your flying house. I thought that was what she meant…"

Garagus shrugged as he handed the girl over to him. He understood that not everyone could fly, but to him it really is no different than walking, so nothing worth bragging about.

"The bird must die."

Garagus let out a sigh of agreement. It failed to get its prey this time, but it may try again. "Take her home. I'll be back."

Kaburd was at a loss. He was willing to chase that bird to the end of the world to protect one of his own. To fail would mean he's no longer fit to care for his tribe, and so falling on his spear would be the only noble act he could redeem himself with.  
Yet this stranger made it look so easy with his unnatural gift.

Still. Kaburd brought the girl back home and delivered her to her mother.  
Cuppa was overjoyed at her grandfather's safe return, ran over with Palete at her heel. "You were so fast this time." She said with a smile as she took the spear for him.

"I didn't save her… Yagon did…" He was still in disbelief over that fact.

"Where _is_ Yagon?" Palete asked.

"He went to…" Kaburd could see Yagon's mate still sitting in the pool. She looked relieved the girl was back but wasn't interested to hear of Yagon. Instead, she was just laying there, watching the sky and soaking up the warm water. Does she not care?  
Kaburd was about to speak again, but the sound of scraping and falling rocks called his attention.

Rolling and bouncing its way down the cliff face, was the decapitated head of the giant bird.  
"It broke off as I was bringing it back!" Yagon yelled as he descended through the steam and landed next to Sorpper.

"So it was a bird?" Rhuba ducked her shoulders into the water. "Shame, I would have eaten it. such a waste."

"Nothing stopping us. Although we should ask _them_ first."

"Yagon!" Kaburd announced as he approached the pair of Saiyans. "You're a skilled warrior. That's obvious. But I'm interested, how strong are you exactly?"

Rhuba put a hand out to stop Garagus from answering. "He's stronger than me," She stated while lifting a palm-sized rock out from the water. "That's all you need to know."  
The rock popped once her fingers closed in, dropping small shards plopping back into the water.

Kaburd was strong enough to crush rocks too but not with such ease, and to know that she was the weaker of the two, it was disheartening to say the least. The skull of the first creature he protected his people from was a prized monument to his strength and yet Garagus pulled a similar act within minutes while soaking wet, naked and without a weapon.

"Neither of us are going to undermine you." Garagus assured him. He could see Kaburd was uncertain of what to make of him and Rhuba. "We'll probably keep to ourselves. Coming here_ today_, was just to give you a chance to recognise us as friends."

Rhuba took a final second to soak up a heat before climbing out from the water. Listening to the men discuss boundaries she could hear a hint of fear in Kaburd's tone, so Rhuba decided to get dressed and prepare for her and Garagus to return to the ship for the night once the chat was over.

They met, they talked, and Garagus saved one of them from being eaten.  
A better first impression is hard to imagine.


	8. Chapter 7: Life As Normal

**Chapter 7.  
****Life As Normal.**

* * *

Even after their first meeting with the Dishian natives, Garagus relocated the ship a mile out from them because he woke to the sight of some of their kids climbing over the hull.  
He didn't expect them to damage the ship with their fun, but he was afraid that if he didn't see them and he tried to take off, death would be a certainty.  
But despite this, they kept in contact and would frequently visit them. Mostly to sit in the spring as it saves power to not have hot water fed into the shower.

Outside the ship, Garagus had wondered what to do about the skeletons.  
Giant birds rarely come to the village, but since learning of where they congregate, Garagus has taken to using himself as bait to lure them home.  
The planet's preserving temperature acts as a natural freezer, so whenever Garagus or Rhuba felt hungry that'd snap a chunk of bird meat off and stick it in the oven. But now the bones were piling up and neither of them knew what to do with them.

Rhuba muttered something incomprehensible to him while he was thinking of a solution.

"Say that again, _without_ the bone in your mouth." He suggested.

"I said, Palete doesn't understand how we could eat three of those birds in a month. She told us to get rid of the bones before they attract any _more_ animals." Rhuba reiterated before continuing to gnaw on the marrow inside the bird bone.

"I hope more come," Garagus answered. _"We'll add them to the pile_."

"true." Rhuba giggled as she wiped her mouth.

When she first arrived on Dishia with Garagus, she couldn't bring herself to eat in the days beforehand. Now she's trying to make up for it. With a full belly and a time to adjust, Rhuba had been aching to go toe to toe with Garagus again.  
"So hey." She tossed the completely hollowed bone to a separate pile as she approached him. "You've kept me waiting. I want a fight, Now."

Garagus turned on the spot and was met by her gleaming but focused eyes staring back. Only now did he realise she was wearing her combat gear, but with Freeza's emblem crudely scratched off.  
If they spent time standing around in the snow, she'd start to freeze. Good thing her intentions will keep them warm once they start.  
"Okay." He walked over to her.

Sensing he wasn't about to start, Rhuba dropped her guard just for a moment. Garagus put his hands around her, so she did the same.  
"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere we won't be bothered." He answered before taking off.

Rhuba pressed her face against him to stay warm with the wind blasting through her hair. But counter-intuitively, the more energy he put into flying, the less wind resistance they met.  
He explained it to her long ago, back when he was still sure that daily prods would convince her to learn how to fly.  
Even now, on their way to battle, he was still Not so subtly trying to spark an interest within her.  
While holding on to her, Garagus began rolling over in the air. He was flying on his back, with her still attached to him.  
On top, she could see the trees and hills as they sailed over them at speeds greater than even their ship can manage within atmosphere.  
Garagus started to fall away from under her, but he maintained a firm grip.  
When she saw his face, he was grinning at her between looking ahead to make sure they wouldn't crash.  
Carefully, Rhuba let go one finger at a time until she was able to hold her arms out like she was flying herself.  
It was an exciting prospect to be sure, but you can't draw blood from a stone. Some people can but others can't, and she knows what she is.

"Wait there!" Garagus told her before letting go and dropping away behind.

"Garagus!" Rhuba flailed her arms and legs before he caught up and grabbed her hips once more, this time from behind so they were both facing the ground. "Ass, _Hoooole!_" She screamed back at him.

Half a moment later, they touched down in a snowy valley, far from the ship and even further from the village.  
Garagus' scouter detected no potentially problematic lifeforms in the area, so there'll be no need to hide out here.  
The moment he dropped Rhuba into the two feet snow, she shot him an angry glare.  
When he landed, she punched him square in the gut.

"One, Fucking, Rule!" She yelled, punching him with every word. "Don't Let Go!" She wasn't as strong as before due to her not training in so long, but she was still packing a wallop that was starting to hurt.

Garagus stepped forward, swinging his arm to bat her away.  
Rhuba managed to dodge the first attack but always messed up on the second. _"ooF!"_ She flew across the snow and got buried when she landed.  
Surrounded by burning ice, she kicked up to land on her knees before getting right back on her feet.

But Garagus wasn't there. Instead, he was hanging forty feet off the ground. "If you won't fly, I will!" He called down to her.  
Extending his hand, Garagus charged and fired a concentrated energy ball at Rhuba.

Rhuba tried to deflect, but since she couldn't match the output required, the ball exploded on impact with her skin, again sending her crashing into the snow.  
Garagus kept up the pressure, firing more and more blasts around her.  
None of them were aimed at her, but the constant explosions and tremors will be causing her to panic and possibly leave an opening.

Rhuba jumped from the snow, her hand alight with a blast of her own before lobbing it straight for Garagus's face.  
Garagus ceased fire, preparing his right hand to deflect. He batted it aside, as Rhuba knew he would.

Which was part of the plan to direct is attention away while she leapt up after it with her left hook ready to punch his lights out. One hard swing threw Garagus off but also left her tumbling back towards the ground.

"ah!" she gasped when her weight was suddenly baring down on one ankle.

"Clever girl," Garagus said as he rubbed his jaw with his free hand. "But _now_ what will you do?"

Rhuba had more than enough strength to lift her body from her current position. So after pulling her self up, she produced and fired another energy blast right at Garagus's face.  
He let go, and she was able to control her landing to hit feet first on the snow.

It was a hard landing though, and when she looked back up, Garagus was already rushing down for an attack of his own.  
Rhuba tried to jump out of the way but was still pummelled by him.

Clearly, he was trying to make a point. Flying was a huge advantage that he was making full use of.  
Three punches and a kick to the gut later, and Rhuba found herself stuck in defence only, unable to spare anything to hit back.  
Garagus didn't even have to save a leg to keep himself standing. The fact that he could remain in the air meant he could use his whole body as a hard-hitting projectile if he wanted.  
Rhuba crouched, her arms cross blocking both her face and as much of her upper body as she could. A poor choice and she knew this. But her arms were failing her, and more than much else she wanted to avoid being hit in the face.

Garagus burst out in a short laugh, unable to believe his luck. Rhuba peaked up from her arms, just before he whipped around to the back of her and grabbed both of her wrists from behind.  
In one quick pull, both her arms were locked at opposing sides of her body, with no way of breaking free.  
Garagus even lifted them both off the ground so her legs were left swinging as she kicked widely, unable to gain any vantage at all. Even bucking her head back hoping to connect with his chin or nose was futile.

"Give up." It wasn't a request. Garagus was demanding that she surrender the battle to him.

"No." Rhuba swung her legs forward before kicking behind as hard as she could, sharply getting his shin.

Garagus responded in turn by kneeing her hard in the buttock. "You've lost Rhuba, right now it takes more strength to admit it."

"Up yours!" She said looking over her shoulder to him. "I've got you right where I want you."

"Hmm." Garagus took a moment to assess her options. Surrender now or flail wildly until the sun goes supernova and consumes the surrounding planets.  
He didn't intend to wait that long, so he simply kneed her again and again.  
"I can do this all day-…"

"Gotcha!" She yelled, now that his left leg was scissor locked between both of hers'. "Ahow!" She yelped when he kneed her with his other leg. "stupid… _Urh, Arrh!"_ She grunted, pulling and twisting with everything she had trying to get free.

"This is getting stupid." Garagus sighed.

"Then You surrender."

"No, I've got you dead."

"I've got your leg!

"I've got your… _Everything!"_ Garagus looked at the ground. If she won't surrender then he'll make this even worse for her.  
Without his limbs, balancing in mid-air will be tricky. Even now he was drifting slightly towards the ground. So he carefully lowered them both towards the snow, then just before landing, tipped forward before crashing into the freezing powder.

"A_aa_ o_o_ll!" Rhuba muffled through the snow.

"Just let me know when you need air, okay." Garagus was chuffed with this plan.  
Rhuba beat him with a chokehold last time. It's poetic he would get her this way. But more than this, the snow will be brushing against her face. She'll be burning in there within a minute if she doesn't surrender sooner.

Rhuba tried to wriggle herself free, grunting and groaning as she went and even tried whipping him with her tail, but there was no escape.  
Using his free leg, Garagus tilted both of them over onto his back to give her a chance to breathe. As fun as this is to watch her tucker out in the dire futility, he didn't want to risk her actually suffocating.

"Rhuba?" He asked softly, as she breathlessly coughed and tried to blow the snow from her nose. "Rhuba. Come on. Give up."

"I've _got you_… _right_ where I-…" She got another face full of snow when Garagus rolled back over.

Since both his and her own body weight was bearing down on her arms, Garagus let go of the one trapped between her ribs and other arm. She wasted No time trying to break free at that point, but it was far too difficult to manoeuvre.  
With one hand freed, Garagus brushed the snow away from his face and hair. Gave his neck a scratch and took a moment to think of what to do with his time while Rhuba got her life together.

"Oh?"  
Rhuba's grip on his leg broke while she tried to kick him off. With both legs back, Garagus reclaimed her other arm before leaning back again dragging her to sit upright on his lap.  
"I'll make you a deal. If you don't want to eat snow, I suggest you pay attention."

"what…?" She sighed, feeling her energy drain with every minute that ticked by.

"I'll let you go and we retake our starting positions, and this time I'll fight you on the ground."

"And what do _I _need to do?" She asked, dropping her struggles and leaning against him. If this offer is real, she wanted to use every second she could get to rest.

"I'll teach you how to fly." Garagus was amazed he had to strike this bargain with her. Flying lessons should be the reward for winning the fight, and anyone else would probably jump at the first offer. But not stubborn Rhuba.

"I, _Can't,_ Fly!" She yelled, pulling her arms with everything she had. By some miracle, her arm slipped free from his cold and wet hand.  
Rhuba charged and fired an energy ball at him. The shockwave was powerful and hurt Garagus, but not as much as he was about to deal to her.

"I hope that was worth it!" He barked, narrowing his eyes on her as she ran away. "You're done." He put his fingertips together forming a cage around the air between his palms.  
As the energy condensed between his hands, the light intensified and sparked as he took aim.  
_"Hail Storm!"_

Rhuba skidded to a halt. Hearing his attack be named, she knew she'd have to block this as dodging was going to be almost impossible. In a moment, she'll be hit with energy blasts as sporadic and fast as raindrops from the sky.  
Only this rain hits with the force of a solid punch, and he can sustain this attack for as long as it would take for him to wear himself out with actual punches.  
Garagus has a _Lot_ of stamina and right now he's pissed. So this is going to hurt.  
As Rhuba braced for the attack, taking another step backwards, her foot missed the ground and she fell, vanishing completely out of sight.

"Rhuba!" Garagus dashed across to where she disappeared.  
They had been fighting on what appears to be a frozen river this whole time. At the very least, tens of feet of compacted snow that perfectly blended the walls of the crevasse in with the surrounding ground.  
Rhuba was laying about fifty feet below him.  
"Rhuba_-a!_" He called down before gently floating himself down to her. "Are you hurt-_urt?"_

_"just,"_ She squeaked softly, holding her knee. "Where the hell are we_-e?_"

"You fell down a hole_-ole."_ The echo was pissing him off. "c'mere." He slid an arm under her legs and another at her back before lifting her from out the crevasse.  
The scary part was that they'd been fighting all that time and didn't know there was a crevasse. Even knowing where it is now, it was still difficult to spot, even from the sky.

"lucky…" Rhuba mumbled as she hugged into him.

"Why are we lucky?"

"Not _we,_ You. Just five more seconds and," She snapped her fingers. "I'd have had you crying for mercy."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!" Her tone was challenging, but her voice was breathless. "Let's go home. You probably need a rest after that, yeah?"

Garagus began heading over toward the distant steam plume. "You know, you could have gotten out of there yourself, _If_ you knew how to fly."

"I have better things to do than fall off a cliff all day."

"You don't start on a cliff, Rhuba. You start on water."

"So what are my options? A, we find an ice-cold lake for me to fall in. Or B, I have an audience of glossy-eyed reptiles watching me fail over and over." She held his face as she looked up to him. "There's something I never told you about me, Garagus."

They'd been apart of each other's lives since they were nine years old and Garagus thought he knew everything about her as she does him.

"what is it?" He asked, slowing down to hear her.

_"I don't cope with failure well."_ She sighed sadly.

"Yeah, _no shit."_ He laughed and powered back on toward the ship.

"I can't fly, stop asking." Rhuba laughed back as she slapped him.

Arriving back at the ship, Rhuba hopped out of Garagus's arms and marched up inside. Her leg was sore, but she wouldn't let Garagus see her limping.  
But he already knew. Getting her to admit she's hurt would do more to her pride than what's already been done to her knee, so he didn't press the matter.  
First thing Rhuba did the moment she was in her room was slip out of her leggings to free her tail from the waist as she went to find something dry to stick on instead.  
All their legwear have holes cut at the back for their tails to thread through. But getting it to work out that way needs to be premeditated before the waist of your trousers goes above your knees, otherwise, it's a complicated mess getting the tail in.  
But after years of wearing these sorts of garments, Rhuba's tail self guides through the hole much like her feet do with the legs without her having to put much thought in herself.  
As she was getting ready to close the wardrobe, her eyes fell upon a fur blanket folded on the shelf.  
It was her favourite one from as far back as she could remember.

* * *

"Don't ask. She'll just take a huff with you if you do." Cressin sighed after Garagus spied Rhuba sitting the bedding, snuggling into a fur white fur quilt.

"What animal is it?" Garagus asked after failing to recognise the unique colour.

"I don't remember." Cressin looked through to see her young daughter rubbing the fur against her cheeks in mindless content.

* * *

Rhuba dried away her tears with the soft fur before folding it back up and setting it safely in the wardrobe again. The last thing she wanted was to spend another two weeks crying about the past.  
After getting dressed, Rhuba made her way to the bed to lay down and rest her leg for a while. As she looked up at the strangely clear sky, she was curious by the white floating disk hovering up there.

"oh shit!" She rolled out of bed, ready to flee.  
But she stopped. Remembering this panic happened before. Seeing the full moon through a naked eye is dangerous, but the ship's windows are reinforced.  
Right now, she was able to stare at the full moon from within a planet for the first time in her life.  
"Garagus!" She called, skipping through to the main bridge to tell Garagus so they could look up to the moon together, something they never had a chance to do back home from fear of becoming monsters.  
Despite its many craters, it was beautiful.  
Setting his hands on Rhuba's shoulders, Garagus leaned into her ear.

"You know what? I'm feeling nostalgic."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Eey! Look at that.  
A battle! With ki blasts and flying and things blowing up. Now it's Dragon Ball.


	9. Chapter 8: First Time, Part 1

**Chapter 8.  
****First Time For Everything, Part 1.**

* * *

It had been so long, Garagus almost forgot what the field looked like. A vast lake away in the distance just before a short mountain range. The deep and lush woodland just a half-mile run left of the den, and a crescent-shaped gorge away behind.  
Before the moon and the months of training leading up to it, a seasonal gathering would take place just at the gorge.  
A big fire would be lit. Food was passed about, a fancy word for stolen mind you.  
Children and adults alike were encouraged to fight each other to get stronger and establish their place in the Saiyan hierarchy.  
But some positions were determined at birth, the Alphas and Dwellers are a prime example.  
Being born to two Alpha parents, Garagus is fated to be stronger than the ones who are not. Should someone like Rhuba surpass him  
in strength, he'd be considered a disgrace to his troop, while Rhuba would still be considered weak.  
It was at one of these gatherings that the two met and became friends. Quite often the two would sneak away from the commotion and entertain themselves in the woods.  
Sometimes they'd play chase, sometimes they'd hunt. They liked to fight on occasion too, and he'd fly around with her on his back. But there was also many a time where Rhuba and Garagus would sit out at night to look up at the stars.  
But when the moon was full both of them would be instructed by Cressin to stay inside.

"Go away, Garagus," Rhuba demanded when the boy kept annoying her. "Mum! He keeps touching me."

"What do you want _me_ to do about it?" Cressin shut her eyes and pretended to be literally anywhere else in the world. She was sick of telling them to stop annoying each other.  
Part of the frustration came from the boredom and hunger everyone felt.  
Since Cressin couldn't trust the pair of them to stay inside while in her absence, she has to wait until she knows they're both asleep before she goes out to hunt and forage.

However, before the full moon, she did manage to store away a few hundred shelled fruit out in the woods. She'd bring them all to the den if they didn't need to be rationed. Too many times Cressin has been woken up by the sounds of shells cracking at night when they're supposed to be sleeping.

The next outburst from Rhuba that caught Cressin's attention was when Garagus had her pinned to the floor. The two were grunting and shoving each other. No punches or kicks were being exchanged, but Rhuba was getting her arm twisted by the far stronger Alpha born.

"that's it…" Cressin reached forward hand grabbed both of them by the tails.

Rhuba's body twitched and spasmed while Garagus just fell limp on top of her.  
"s-stop…" Garagus wheezed as he and Rhuba were dragged into the bedding area.

Cressin didn't let go, not until she was sure both of them had fallen unconscious.  
"Finally," She sighed, hearing peace in the den at last. But with this, she saw an opportunity to make a quick forage run. It wouldn't take longer than thirty minutes round trip to grab some nuts and return. Hopefully, with some food in the belly, they'll be less irritant.  
After Cressin doused the fire, Garagus waited a few more minutes before peeking up to see if she had in fact left the den.

Despite being trained to overcome the paralysis brought on by his tail being pulled, it still hurt like hell.  
Staying under the pelt in case Cressin returned and learned he was pretending to pass out, Garagus tried to rouse Rhuba from her sleep.  
She wasn't responding to him shoogling her, so he batted away the pelt covering them and carried her through to the sitting space to try using water on her. Even after pouring a few drops over her closed lids, Rhuba was still out cold.

"Rhuba…?" Garagus placed a hand on her chest. Her heart was still beating, just very faint. It scared him to know that he'd be in the same state if not for those months of abuse he suffered with all the other Alphas and their kids.  
"c'mon, Rhuba, wake up." They hoped Cressin would get annoyed and leave. Getting knocked out wasn't part of the plan, and right now it's mucking it up.  
They were so tired of being stuck inside they were willing to try anything to get out. Garagus thought about letting Rhuba sleep and going for a fly himself, but part of the joy he gets is from how much fun flying is for _her.  
_He didn't want to leave her behind.  
"up you come." He grunted, lifting her onto his back with her arms drooping over his shoulders.

Climbing through the exit was hellish due to having to crawl on all fours so low the ground so she'd fit under too. Seeing the field made Garagus chill with excitement. Or maybe it was just him feeling a breeze for the first time in absolute ages.  
He was sure Rhuba would wake faster in the cool air and hard ground than inside where it's still warm and soft.

"Hey!" He said giving her face another slap. "wake up or I'm leaving you behind." Rhuba's face twitched like she was tired and refusing to wake up.  
"up you get!" Garagus chimed pulling her eyelids apart.

Rhuba's eyes were out of focus for a moment while Garagus tried to get her attention. But then her eyes snapped into focus on something behind Garagus.  
Fearing the worst, Garagus looked over his shoulder half expecting to see an angry Cressin standing behind him.

But it was far worse than that.  
"NO!" Garagus turned away as quickly as he could. But it was too late for him and he knew it. What's more, Rhuba's pupils had changed. They were beady, and a dark shade of pink.

Rhuba then focused on Garagus, bared her teeth and gave an aggressive bark before delivering an open-palmed punch to his face.  
It was sore. Sore enough to sap all of his concentration, and leave Garagus subject to the whim of the descending red mist blurring his vision and sanity before he and Rhuba were clawing and tearing at each other like wild animals.

* * *

Rhuba woke up with a pounding headache. By her side was Garagus, still asleep and sharing a fur cover with her. "Hey, wake up." Rhuba was about to nudge him, but the moment she moved her arm she felt alarmed.

Looking under the cover, she saw both he and her were naked, covered in scratches and bruises, dirt, and even a little blood. Seeing this made her aware of how sore her body was. But more than that, when she rolled over she felt something else.  
Or rather, didn't feel something.

"My Tail!?" She desperately felt around where it should be. Instead of her tail, she only felt a gelatinous stinging wound trying to heal itself over.

Her screams of panic even woke Garagus, who after seeing her, quickly realised he too was without a tail. "What happened?" He demanded in fright.

Cressin popped her head into the sleeping den to check on the startled children.  
"Want them back?" She asked before tossing a pair severed tails at them.

Rhuba evaded her's like she'd just been tossed a live snake but then burst out crying when she realised the truth. "I need my tail! _I Need IT!" _Rhuba sniffed and sobbed as she rubbed at her wet eyes.  
Comparing the tail she was holding to Garagus', she wasn't even sure if she had the right one. She even tried to see if she could reattach it but gave up after a sharp pain shot up her spine from the first attempt.  
This was her reality now, but she couldn't accept it any more than Garagus, who just held his in silent grief.

His arm was trembling as he held it close. But rage soon engulfed him as he set his eyes on Cressin. "You… _Bitch!"_ He yelled, pouncing at her ready to punch.

Cressin wasn't an Alpha nor did she have as much training as he, but she had a longer reach than he did, so her fist connected first. Cressin punched him without reserve before tossing him back in beside her daughter.  
"Swing at me again, I'll break your arm." She threatened before staring at her daughter. "If either of you go outside without my say so again, it'll be the last you see each other, understand?" She warned both of them.

Garagus said nothing as he held his face. Being away from his own troop for so long, he forgot what it felt like to take a real punch. Rhuba was too distraught to argue. All she could bring herself to do was find her favourite quilt and bury herself under it.

"Good." Cressin tossed a couple of shelled fruit into them. "you'll be starving now, so eat something." She ordered before sitting herself down by the newly lit fire, where she planned to relax and finish off the nuts she'd begun eating herself.  
Depending on how long this silence from the brats last, she might be kind enough to let them both know that their tails will, in fact, grow back in just a few months.

* * *

"Are you insane?" Rhuba demanded, reaching behind protectively as her tail curled up at her back. "Why the hell would I ever, Ever look at the moon again after last time?"

"Things are different now. Last time we were stupid kids and the moon got us by surprise." Garagus always regretted his idiocy that day. Trying to wake a sleeping girl while the full moon rests high above where her face is pointing. There was only one way that could have ended.  
"I was trained to control the Oozaru." Garagus reminded her. "If I'm in the right mind, and I don't let the rage get to me, I can control myself."

"But you haven't been one since last time, and that didn't go well did it?" Rhuba can't even remember anything of her first time as an Oozaru beast, but she remembered how it felt.  
It was sore, exhausting, and her mind was just burning with hatred and rage. Nothing about it was good. "Why the hell do you want to be an Oozaru anyway? You hated your training."

"We're the last of our kind. I'd like it if the last thing the Oozaru ever did was an act of self-control."

"Then do it yourself and leave me out of it."

"Come on Rhuba. You won't let me teach you to fly, you won't come see the moon with me."

Rhuba found his attempts to guilt-trip her both pointless and self-defeating. He may as well be trying to convince her to jump off a cliff for all the appeal any of these options had. And yet, there was one thing that caught her fancy.

"Make me the Super Saiyan." She challenged him.

Garagus's face fell.  
At every gathering they attended, legends of the Saiyans would be shared. And without fail, the legendary Super Saiyan would be brought up. Only to happen once in a millennia, a Saiyan with unrivalled strength will be born and live as a testament to the unfathomable power of the glorious warrior race that the Saiyans are.

"Thought so." Rhuba said giving him a dismissive wave as she walked away. He knew as well as she did that somethings in life are not meant for everyone. She cannot fly, They will not be Super Saiyans.

Garagus looked back at her. Why she's so stubborn about this, he'll never know. It's annoying because he knows for a fact that once her feet come off the ground, she'll love it.  
"Rhuba. I'm not asking anymore." He called through to her. "As soon as the moon goes away, I'm teaching you."

Rhuba was halfway to the canteen when she heard him. Normally she'd dismiss such a 'warning', but part of her was scared of what he had in mind.  
It doesn't make sense.  
Rhuba couldn't fly even back when she wanted to learn, so how exactly was he going to make her now that she doesn't?


	10. Chapter 9: First Time, Part 2

**Chapter 9.  
First Time For Everything, Part 2.**

* * *

Rhuba was insistent not to learn how to fly. Assuming that she was just put off by the prospect of failure and the embarrassment that comes with it, Garagus planned out a series of tests to prove that she can fly without her having to worry about falling.  
He took her to a canyon of spiring plateaus. Below was a sheet of white snow, and going by how flat it was, both guessed it was a bed of ice under there.

"Do you think it'll thaw in the summer?" Rhuba asked as she took a seat across from him up top one of the plateaus.

"Don't distract from our goal."

"This is Your goal, _I don't wanna be here!"_

Garagus ignored her complaints and instead asked her to follow his lead. "Do you understand _how_ I fly?"

"of course not." Rhuba sighed, looking at him bored.

"Let me rephrase that." Garagus elaborated by saying that although he can fly, he cannot fly as a bird does. It's very different methods being used. "You understand a bird in flight?"

"Sure. He flaps his wings, and he flies." Rhuba let out a sigh, desperate for him to get to the point so she can get this over with.

"Watch me, Rhuba." Garagus balanced himself in a cross-legged position. With some focus and balance, his body lifted from the ground. Rhuba was blown away almost quite literally by it, but she still failed to see the point this demonstration.  
"I don't flap my arms. I use a power you're already familiar with." Putting his feet down, Garagus stood tall above her. "Rhuba, knock me off the edge. Right now, with one hard punch."

Rhuba hopped to her feet and dusted herself off before approaching him. He didn't take a battle stance, but she expected some sort of retaliation. This is training to her, so she approached him like an enemy.

"Oof, eh, hehe." Garagus took a hard hit to the gut. He was forced back slightly, but he simply stepped back up to the mark. "The punch didn't work, did it?"

"You asked me to do it in one. I can't."

"Sure. So why not trying _pushing_ me this time?" Garagus again took a relaxed stance as he waited for contact.

Rhuba grappled him and began shoving him nearer the edge before his feet slipped away. Garagus dropped a few feet but floated back up.

"Very good."

"How does this help me fly?" Rhuba asked.

"Punching and Pushing. Both exert energy, but are utilised differently." Garagus affirmed. "Now, do as I do." He stretched out a hand and fired off a small blast across the canyon. It dissipated before hitting anything, as it was only meant for a demonstration.

"Hmph." Rhuba also put out a hand. Her blast wave was equal to his but hit a far off cliff which caused some boulders to tumble below in a dust cloud.

"Very good. Consider that, a non-contact punch." Garagus told her. "But the next-." Both their attention was caught by the sudden rumble of falling rocks only just reaching them. It was louder than expected.  
Garagus turned to her. He'd forgotten what he was about to say because of the noise, which annoyed Rhuba.

"I could be sitting in a warm spring right now instead of freezing my tits off standing here."

"…Next." Garagus sat cross-legged across from her and gestured for her to copy. "We're going to practice control."

Rhuba hissed at the cold snow under her legs. "We couldn't do this at the village?"

"This next part is dangerous. One mistake and someone could get hurt." Garagus held his hands together, focusing a small ball of energy as he often prepares for his Hail Storm attack.

Rhuba leaned away, but it never fired.

"Focus your mind on this light, Rhuba." Garagus instructed. "no, focus your _spirit _on the light. Put out your arms, and try to hold it back without touching it."

"huh?"

"I'm going to slowly push it forward. I want you to hold it off until it vanishes."

Energy blasts can travel at the speed of light, but most only travel as fast as they're thrown. Unless they come into contact with something, they'll maintain their form for as long as they can self sustain.

After Rhuba aimed both hands at the light, Garagus gently pushed it forward towards her.  
"Eh…" Rhuba tried to slow it down by thinking, but it wasn't working. "Heh..?" As it got closer, she felt more panicked. "No. NO!" She pulled one arm back and fired a blast of her own with the other.  
When the two orbs collided, there was a sudden burst of energy that was perhaps more violent than either were hoping for.

"Well. You technically did what I asked." Garagus sighed as he produced another ball. "Just try to be less explosive this time."

"Wait, You do it." Rhuba pulled together her power and tossed a slow one at him.

Garagus had less time to prepare. Instead of stopping the oncoming blast, he deflected it without it even making contact. From Rhuba's point of view, it looked like he swished it away with a wave of his hand.

"Again." Garagus asked, with his hands out and ready this time.

This time when Rhuba fired. Not only did he slow the blast's trajectory to a halt, but even reversed it back on itself, just a bit slower.  
"oh crap…" Rhuba put her hands out and tried to slow it like he did, but it came in contact before dissipating leaving with painful burns in her bare hands.

"Here's the next one." Garagus said, lobbing another ball at her.

"no-Don't!" Too late. Rhuba's had zero time to ready herself and could only put her hands out to shield herself in time before the snowball smashed into her burning skin.  
She just silently glared at him. But honestly, the snow was maybe a good idea.  
"Say I pass this test. Where will that bring me?"

"If we can pass the light ball back and forth intuitively, it'll teach you about controlling your energy output."

"Those aren't words we'd use…" Rhuba accused with a daring smirk. "You're adapting Granate's terminology aren't you?"

"If it works it works. I can't even remember how I was taught." Garagus could remember he, his brother and friends being edged off a cliff into the sea. Fly, sink, or swim. "I don't even think I got lessons."

"Maybe you Alphas are just _born_ with talent?" Rhuba suggested, still gently washing her hands in the cooling snow.

"Maybe." Garagus generated another light ball and started gently batting it between his left and right hands without it making contact.  
Rhuba followed his actions with her eyes. His motions were so simple, but to copy them was so difficult.  
"Want me to get you started?" Walking forward on his knees, Garagus gently handed the light to her and helped her bounce towards her other hand. "As if you're going to push it. Put more force than your normally would, but don't make contact."

Before reaching Rhuba's left hand, the ball of light was repelled off towards the sky.  
"wow," Garagus chuckled after dodging at the last second. "too heavy, bring it back a little." He summoned another ball, and they tried again and again.

* * *

After an hour of freezing her tail off, Rhuba sighed with a tired yawn. She just watched the ball bounce back and forth between her hands hoping Garagus would do something to liven the exercise up a little, other than just adding more power to the next ball of energy.

"I think that's enough for today." He finally said.

"Thank god." Rhuba groaned as she shot to her feet and shook herself warm.

"Before we go back though, just try aiming your power at the ground."

"I can't even feel my _toes,_ Garagus."

"Stop complaining. You've coped with worse."

Rhuba narrowed her eyes at him as she kicked her feet awake and cracked the knuckles in her hands. "Fine…" Rhuba pointed her hands to the ground and concentrated in pushing her power with them.

"I want you to imagine you're holding onto two railings. You're lifting yourself off the ground, with your feet hanging low. Think about how you want to position your arms, and how you want to balance yourself."

Rhuba nodded as she tried to visualise herself coming off the ground. But her feet felt rooted to the world below her, and she felt herself already getting annoyed. An hour of tedious games and what did she have to show for it?  
Nothing.  
"I don't think it's working, can I take a break?"

Garagus could hear the frustration and apathy in her voice, but he wasn't paying her any mind. His eyes were focused on the small frost particles blowing from her direction as she was emitting her power.

"Garagus." Rhuba called again, dropping all her efforts to try and get his attention.

_"Hmm?_ You were doing good, why did you stop?"

"I was standing there like a moron. I didn't feel any lighter."

"You _don't_ feel lighter, you just fly. The _ship_ doesn't get lighter when it…" Garagus got an idea.

She needs validation. Something to confirm her efforts are working. And he knew how to get her the progress update she needs. "Come on, I'm going to take you back."

Rhuba was relieved to hear those words, but they sounded like they carried more to them that what she was hoping for. "What are you planning now?" She asked, walking into his open arms.

Holding onto Rhuba from behind, Garagus leapt from their training spot and began flying back to the ship.  
It was a cold flight, not helped by the last hour of inactivity, baring a few hand motions and channelling small amounts of power.

When they arrived back at the ship, Rhuba felt torn between wanting to jump in the springs at the village, jumping into bed to hibernate, or jumping into a fight with Garagus. She felt like she'd worked her muscles up but hadn't had a chacnce to use them yet, so a fight would be nice and any of the three would warm her up, so she let him choose.

"I'm taking you up into space." He said when he got behind the control desk.

"Huh?" Rhuba turned for the airlock, but it shut just before she could flee. _"No!"_ Her hands slammed against the hull. It would be simple to tear through the metal and escape, but doing so would strand them on this planet indefinitely.

The last place she wanted to be was space. She's never been outside the ship, but she's heard it's cold out there, and it Looks cold. "What are we doing then?" She demanded.

"I'm going to make you fly." He said with a grin.

"And how is that?" Rhuba asked as she darted to take her seat at his side.

Garagus kept his method to himself as he prepped for liftoff.

The engines kicked in and Rhuba was thrown against the backrest of her seat. It's not as thrilling as her usual seat that spins her wildly, but it was still exhilarating to be blasted forward towards an oncoming sky.

Garagus watched their gravity gauge go down as they gained distance from the planet below. He and Rhuba felt no change as the artificial gravity brought on by the ship was still set to that of the planet itself. But once they were free of the world's pull, Garagus directed Rhuba to stand against the back wall.

"I'm going to turn off the gravity in a minute, okay?" His voice started straight, but towards the end, he was starting to smile.

Even Rhuba was holding back laughter. "Okay." Rhuba cheered, preparing herself for the fun she was about to have.  
Her first experience with zero gravity was a messy one, but since then she's learned to hold her stomach and actually enjoy floating about.

At the push of a button, the pair of them felt their weight disappear. Garagus's feet remained glued to the ground, Rhuba's however, slipped away from her the moment she tried to walk.  
She failed to make traction on the floor and just started drifting across the bridge.

"hmph." Garagus held his hands behind his back as he moved over to her, using his own flying ability to steer and stop himself. "Are you enjoying this?" He asked, watching her curl up as she drifted past him. He grabbed her ankle and held her in place so she had zero noticeable momentum in any direction.  
"Hold still for now. You're going to start flying, right this moment." Garagus moved over to the far side of the cabin and held out a hand to her. "Using the skills we just learned, put your hands behind you and push with your energy."

"It won't work. I can't fly." Rhuba sighed.

"Just please, give this your best shot. Come to me." He said with a pleading voice.

Rhuba looked at his outstretched hand. She'd rather he came to her so they could play in the gravity some more.  
But if this works, it would make him happy. He'd be proud of her. And it would be nice if this wasn't a total waste of their time.

Rhuba reached to the far wall behind her and pushed. She shut her eyes and visualised herself on those bars Garagus described. Even though she was laying parallel to the floor, in space her ordination was relative only to where her feet were pointing.  
So pushing 'down' with her hands should make her body rise 'up' towards Garagus, in theory at least.

Rhuba jolted awake when she felt his hands clasp around her face. She looked up to see him smiling. "You did it." He said proudly as he set her down on the floor beside him.

Rhuba looked back to where she was. She had in fact moved, and didn't even realise.

"Let's go to the other side, follow me." Garagus fell through the air towards the wall so easily. Rhuba kicked off the ground to get there first. "No no, that's cheating. Don't jump. _Push_, but don't make contact." Garagus reminded her before stopping himself in mid-flight. "I didn't need to touch any surface to slow down, you shouldn't need to touch one to start moving."

Rhuba stood herself on the wall, which to her had become the floor.  
By pushing her hands up at Garagus, she was able to give herself the feeling of weight. Enough to walk along the wall without slipping away.  
She failed to notice, however, that her actions were directly causing Garagus to drift away from her. But he was able to counterbalance himself.

For now, he was just watching her put what they'd learned into practice. Right now she's just walking, but the methods are still in use.

After stepping over the hallway, Rhuba looked up at Garagus before aiming down to the wall. Sure enough, this simple action caused her to start moving towards _him _now_._

"Good, now aim at me to stop yourself." Garagus encouraged.  
If there's any lingering doubt in her mind of what she is capable of, being able to stop mid trajectory will adequately break the laws of motion and surly prove once and for all that she _is_ flight worthy.  
"Rhuba stop!" He insisted, putting his hands out to the sides, hoping she'll be able to stop herself before they meet. "Rhuba…"

Instead of stopping, Rhuba just let herself collide and locked her legs around his waist as her arms held onto his.

"You were supposed to stop." He said, putting a hand out to stop them both drifting against the control panel.

"I just learned I can fly. How do you expect me to stop now?" Rhuba leaned in, meeting him halfway for a kiss.

Garagus knew she won't be able to fly on the planet's surface yet, as there is a huge difference between floating in still water and being able to swim upstream.  
Rhuba has only just discovered she isn't made from stone, but she still needs to fight against the rapid currents that are Gravity if she wants to master it as he has.


	11. Chapter 10: A Solution

**Chapter 10.  
****A Solution.**

* * *

Rhuba was completely out of breath after sprinting so hard to escape.  
Her ears were still ringing while the surrounding trees popped and burst open as tiny metal fragments shot towards her.  
Years without a problem. Years of living peacefully on their own and now suddenly she found herself running for her life.  
When they were attacked, she and Garagus didn't even know what hit them.  
They were just flying around together happily as you like, then suddenly Garagus was hit by something and they dropped from the sky like stones.  
Rhuba was careful with her directions though. Garagus was still back there and she wasn't going to leave him behind to be killed.

While she took cover under the exposed roots of a dying tree, the drones that had been chasing her whizzed past, giving her a small opening to smash the first of them.  
It was hard, and heavy to take down in one hit. But once her feet were on the ground she managed to crush the hull enough to cause permanent damage.  
This caused her to be exposed long enough for the second drone to take aim and fire.  
A spinning wire was shot at her. It lassoed around her body and emitted a sharp jolt of electricity that caused her to collapse in screaming pain.

The discharges were constant, giving her another jolt every thirty seconds to keep her paralysed until the patrol could catch up.  
"We found the target. Female, looks around the same age as the other."

Rhuba snarled and tried to struggle to get free as the men walked around her. But the sight of them brandishing their weapons put fear into her. The drones are expendable and are designed to capture Saiyans but soldiers are giving deadly weapons for personal defence.

"No sir, the trees are too dense to land." The soldier in armour said to himself, as far as Rhuba could tell. She hissed aggressively when he looked at her. "She _is_ conscious… yes sir." He nodded to another to keep the gun on her.  
He'd seen how to handle Saiyans before, but he'd never had to do it himself yet. Walking around to the back of her, then lifted her pelt skirt to expose and grab her tail.  
Her body jolted for a sudden moment before relaxing.

"uh, how to deactivate a Saiyan?" One laughed as their team leader fastened a thick plastic cord around her tail to keep the pressure on so she could be safely carried through the trees.

Rhuba grunted every few steps as his shoulder jabbed her in the stomach, but she was completely unable to resist until they were out of the woods and brought into a clearing, where a transport ship was waiting for them.

"In you go, sweetheart," The soldier said as he pushed Rhuba into the back of a cage before moving off to immediately start washing his hands.  
The Saiyans don't notice it due to their standard of living but compared to the Tuffles, wearing their greasy pelts all day and not one of them have ever been introduced to soap before, they don't half stink.

As the ship ascended and prepared to move, Rhuba could only stare out from her cage.  
With time and lots of effort, she was able to reach behind and feel the tag clamping down on her tail. Getting it off on her own though was impossible.  
Of course, that was the point.  
The Tuffles know their weaknesses. Know how to kill Saiyans.  
Just like Chief Vegeta warned all those years ago. Taking the fight to them maybe wasn't so unwarranted after all.

Rhuba, Garagus and Cressin thought they could wait out the war. Live in seclusion and without spilling blood on either side.  
But now the Tuffles have found them, and Rhuba feared that their fate is surely to die in these cages. Her only hope now was that Cressin gets away.  
Rhuba and Garagus were out on their own when they got ambushed. He tried to fight them off while she escaped, knowing he could simply fly away to catch up.  
But before they opened fire, Rhuba saw them surround a paralysed Garagus. That's when the drones showed up and started chasing her.

_**"We're now in Rutentark's air space, landing in three minutes."**_

After a long flight, the ship began to slow down as it entered a demolished city. The pilots landed down in an old flood channel that as since been reconditioned to have the water level rise and lower at certain points with a flick of a switch.  
No Saiyan with their lack of ingenuity could even begin to understand how such a thing would be possible, so hiding an underground base with the way in being completely submerged when not in use was perfect.  
The ship was built so the entrance would sit _in_ the water current. New channels would open keep the flow consistent while a set of walls surrounded the lower hull and drained away the trapped water.  
To any Saiyan looking in on it, it would look like the ship was just sitting in a river. Any conclusion they come up with as to why would most likely be an incorrect one.

Once the ship was in position and the water level started to lower, Rhuba started to freak out hearing loud noise similar but far scarier to when heavy rain batters off the den. When that finally stopped, even more noises started up as light filled the room and the two guards put things into motion to get her cage moving out of the hold, down a ramp into a few seconds of sunlight before being pushed back into another tunnel where a metal door shut behind them.  
"Is that all?"  
"Yes, all clear."  
Yellow lights flashed as the sound of rushing water once again filled the room.  
"Got two this time."  
"You two are called back to the ship. Advise the pilot that we detected movement nearby."

Rhuba watched from inside her box as she was wheeled backwards into one room that was very small, but felt as though it was moving somehow.  
_**"Floor B-Seven."**_ Spoke a strange voice.  
When the doors opened, the hall they were just in had changed into something completely different. People that didn't look like soldiers were looking back at her as she was wheeled in. It took her a moment to take in her surroundings, but there actually were a few Saiyans tied down on tables already.  
Rhuba didn't know what was happening to them, but she knew it terrified her.

"Two."

"Just in time, these are almost…" The man locked eyes with Rhuba in the cage. Seeing the scared look of someone so young, even a Saiyan, it just made him stiffen his expression. "Just get them in and take _these_ two back to the cells."

The captive Saiyans on the table were too weak to even make threats as they were swapped out for Rhuba.  
The soldier just left her there as he went back to the cage to get someone else.

"Ga…gus…" Rhuba gasped, seeing Garagus lay unconscious behind the metal bars before being pulled out by two soldiers to be dropped on the table across from her.

Men and women wearing white walked over to the pair of them. Rhuba tried to pull away as they began cutting off her pelts.  
_"fu-k off!" _Aside from growling under her breath, she was otherwise unable to stop them.

Across the way, the same was happening to Garagus.  
Their pelt and fur clothes were removed and carted away to be incinerated, while they were redressed with fabrics similar to the ones in white. Once they were done redressing them, her wrists were strapped in palm facing up just out next to her hips.  
The unnatural position alone was uncomfortable, but some of her weight was bearing down on where her tail met her spine, causing a feeling like it was bending the wrong way and she didn't even have the strength to shift herself into a better position.

With everyone happening, the pain and fear of not knowing where she was or what was going to happen to them.  
Rhuba couldn't bear to look at anything anymore. But the resting poison her head found forced her to stare into an intense lamp shining overhead. The blinding light raying down on her face that felt as though it were cooking her head with each passing second. Even shutting her eyes did nothing to stop the headache it induced.

It took a while before someone would come over for something other than to check on her bindings.  
"Here, drink something." He said, pushing down on the bottom of the table up so Rhuba was moved into a more upright position.

Rhuba forced herself to look the other way. Thirsty as she was, the idea of accepting anything from them repulsed her, after seeing the state of the Saiyans she and Garagus replaced on these tables.

"Fine then." The man muttered before taking his bottle over to the still unconscious Garagus and tried poured a little water over his face to prompt him to wake up. "Drink" He demanded.

Rhuba rolled her head back over after hearing Garagus's distressed coughing, but simply seeing him awake brought just the slightest feeling of hope to her.

"Hey, _hey!_ What are you doing?" Called someone who sounded more in charge. "I'd rather get this done_ before_ he wakes up."

Rhuba watched with tired eyes as he moved towards Garagus. He had a table laid out for him, with all sorts of tools for him to use.  
But he only needed the one for now. Solution 11-2-36-jin.  
After filling his syringe, the doctor injected Garagus.

"Okay, now you can wake him." The doctor turned his sights on Rhuba.  
She watched in panic. Although she did not understand what she was seeing, she knew she should be afraid.  
"It doesn't hurt, I assure you." He said before checking her arms for a suitable vein. "No need to be afraid."

Rhuba could see the needle and knew he was going to stab her with it.  
"oh no… No!" She struggled and pulled with any fibre of strength she had, which right now wasn't enough.  
But across the way, she could see Garagus starting to wake up, confused and unsure of where he was. Rhuba pulled everything she had into just to scream his name, making him focus on her.

The Tuffles had caught dozens of Saiyans over the years. But they'd never caught an Alpha, so they had nothing in place to deal with a Saiyan that was immune to having his tail tied.

Garagus pulled on his restraints until they tore clean off.  
The doctor heard, dropped the syringe and called for all medical staff to retreat.

Garagus broke his table completely in his desperate attempts to free himself and reach Rhuba.  
"You okay?" He carefully broke her restraints and helped her to her feet.

But she was weak, unable to stand up. "mu, tail…" She gasped, reaching behind. Garagus tried to pull it off with his hands, but it only hurt her more. The only way to get it off was to break it.

"Wait one minute," Garagus took a knee and carefully set her resting over it so he could try to tear through the tie with his teeth. Rhuba hissed as strength soddenly flooded into her arms and legs again.

She lifted herself from his lap and looked him over. "And you," She turned him away before biting through the tag on his tail too. Once he was free of it, she checked his arm. Even though she saw him be stabbed, there wasn't much of a wound that she could see. "They did something to you, how do you feel?"

"Fine…" Garagus looked at the red dot on his arm. He felt nothing wrong, no obvious sign of injury as far as either of them could tell.  
For now, their only mission was to escape. Should they find anyone they can interrogate on the way out, only then will they ask questions.

But suddenly the room got dark.  
"what was that?" Garagus whispered, keeping a hand out to keep a check on where Rhuba was. The two clung to each other as the dimmer lights came on with yellow flashes.

_**"All guards to converge on corridor seven immediately! Two Saiyans have broke free!"**_

"Who's saying that?" Garagus asked, looking at the ceiling for the voice's owner.

"Watch out!" Rhuba pulled Garagus behind a wall when a team of gunmen appeared down the corridor the doctor ran down.

Garagus was grazed by the plasma rifle, but it could have been worse had it been a direct hit. Especially if it hit Rhuba.  
"Keep your head down." He warned before stepping out of cover to return fire with blasts of his own.

While he engaged the first-responders, Rhuba spotted more guards preparing to breach the double doors that he and she were brought in through.  
She wasted no time to pounce at them, grabbing the closest one and brought her fist down hard on his soon to be shattered collar bone.

"I've killed four!" Garagus called over his shoulder to her while his sight on the hall he was defending.

"I got these!" She replied before throwing the limp body in her hands at the fleeing guards.

They've all got orders to treat Saiyans as if fighting a wildfire, from a distance and Never let them grab you. Rhuba gave chase though, and she was very fast on foot compared to them.  
She grabbed one from the back of the neck and crashed him down on the floor before chasing after the next, and the next.

_We spent all this time trying to avoid hurting you, but now I don't care anymore._ She thought, kicking away someone's feet before he dropped to the floor in a disorientated heap.  
Rhuba grabbed the rifle before he could take aim from the floor and bashed him in the shoulder with her heel before snapping the weapon in half.

"Rhuba!" Garagus called as he ran up to meet her. "How do we get out?"

Rhuba tried to think. She was awake for her transport but her field of view consisted mostly metal bars, a floor, and the bottom forth of long stretches of wall.  
"Ask this one." She lifted one of her injured by the uniform collar. It alone made him yell in pain from his dislocated arm, but Rhuba set her foot up against his knee just to be sure. "How do we get out?"

"I can't help you…" The man looked Rhuba defiantly in the eye as he spoke, then shrieked in agony when she put her full weight on his knee.

"Forget it Rhuba." Garagus had his eyes set on the ceiling. If he could get under the open sky, he could fly them both to safety and find their way home.  
There's no need to risk their lives in these tunnels.

Standing back from where he intended to aim, Garagus pulled his hands back to charge up a more powerful blast than what he'd normally use in a fight. It should be enough to shatter whatever kind of stone lay between them and the outside.

"no no No, What is he-!" The Tuffle man didn't get a chance to voice his crucial objections before Garagus unleashed his power on the ceiling.

Just as quickly as his energy punched through the roof, water from the canal started gushing in, sweeping both Saiyans and the Tuffles with it.

_**"Warning. Water breach!"**_ Got repeated over and over.

They were swept around thirty meters away, but since Garagus was so close to the impact, he was hit the hardest.  
Rhuba found Garagus struggling to rise out of the fast-moving water and grabbed his hand to pull him up next to her.

"What now?" She asked, shivering in the cold water as the hall slowly began to fill up.

Garagus saw what looked like another set of those double doors they just got swept through. It was worth a shot.  
Punching a hole to get a purchase, Garagus pulled the two doors separate and once again nearly got swept down a dark elevator shaft as all the water began pouring off the edge like a waterfall.  
Rhuba managed to grab his wrist before he lost his balance, but it wasn't enough to stop him falling. She had to hold onto him and a door handle as they fought against the current to steady themselves.  
Once the initial fright of dropping had passed, Garagus steadied himself in the air before pulling Rhuba into his arms so he could fly them both back through the doors and back the where they were.

"What the fuck is this place?" Rhuba demanded as she and Garagus regrouped near the walls to try and think of an escape. The water level on their floor was still rising, albeit slower with the lift open. But the water was still coming faster than it was going down.  
"Do you think we could get out that way?" Rhuba asked, nodding to the elevator shaft.

Garagus didn't like the looks or the sounds coming from there, but he left Rhuba behind to flight the water and have a look.  
If he slips, he can always flay back up again. As far as he could see, it was an endless void of darkness going up and down.  
"No, there's no way out that way." He called as he came back.

"So what do we do?" The water was already up to their waists and still rising.

Garagus looked down the hall where he blasted the ceiling. They were swept much further than he thought.  
"Come with me." Garagus grabbed Rhuba's hand and pulled her through the water.

With every step, her footing would lose more and more. "I can't go that way-!" Rhuba's voice was cut off when she fell below the current. Garagus hoisted her closer to keep her up.

"Yes you can!" Garagus jumped out the of water with her arms.

Rhuba clung to him tightly as he flew against the current to get to the source of the water. _"You're not going to fly through that!?"_ Rhuba gasped, hoping he wasn't that crazy.

He took the last moment to properly look at her. If this fails, they probably won't have time to find another escape before the water level takes them completely. If it works, for all they know they're at the bottom of a vast lake, or even an ocean.  
"I'm sorry. I… _I don't have anything else." _

Despite him trying to look brave, Rhuba could hear the panic in his voice and she knew this could be the last minute of their lives if it doesn't work.  
_"Garagus…"_ She jumped into him, wrapping her legs around him and held on around the back of his neck.

Holding her just as tight, Garagus looked up towards the water. If he lets the water rise all the way, it'll be easier to get through. But they'll have less time to hold their breaths.  
"Take a deep breath Rhuba." He told her, placing a protective hand behind her head as he focused on what he hand to do. "On three, one… two… _Three!" _

The pair took their finals gasps before being battered to a pulp under the water. It was freezing and felt like being buried under thousands of falling rocks.  
But soon their bodies were surrounded by water. Garagus had his eyes shut tight, and felt Rhuba's face pressing harder into his neck as their chests started to burn from lack of oxygen as they made their way to the surface, that felt ever distant with every passing second.

Then suddenly, hitting them with as much shock as when the water first broke through, they shot free and felt the water pour from them as they soared up through the orange sky.

The first few breaths they shared were difficult, but freeing all the same.  
"We got out…" Garagus almost didn't believe it.

The pair of them looked towards the river and could see the bubbles still foaming from where they just emerged from. "Garagus look." Rhuba pointed out the rest of the city.

Since the war began, neither of them had been near a Tuffle civilisation. This was the first time they'd seen the deviation the Saiyans had brought in their fight.  
Once tall buildings lay in crumbling ruin across several housing blocks. Rubble and derbies from a past explosion and the streets were scorched and littered with crashed ships, brought down by Saiyans when they attacked.

In the quiet ambience, the continued sounds of alarm blow in the underground base still made their way out. Before anyone came looking for the two of them, Garagus lifted Rhuba higher against him to fly away.

They flew in silence.  
Drowning is such a horrible way to go, but Rhuba trusted Garagus to bring her out, and he didn't let her down.  
Thinking back to how she felt in the rising water, the idea of dying miles from home in a Tuffle base, and knowing how Cressin would never know what happened to them. It was too horrible to think about.  
But Rhuba looked up to Garagus, Thinking about everything that's happened in her life since meeting him, and feeling not a single regret. But he was silent, determined, and focused as he looked ahead.  
_Truly the focus and determination of a proud Alpha protecting his woman, _Rhuba thought as she held tighter to him.

In reality.  
When the Tuffles took away their pelts, he and Rhuba were dressed in paper-thin fabrics which only served to protect their modesty, but those, of course, got soaking wet during their escape. And knowing that Rhuba's mother would surely be waiting for them at the den, Garagus had to think of literally _Anything_ else other than Rhuba's wet body pressed against his for the remainder of the flight.  
Or else the repulsed glare of disapproval will surely be waiting for him.

* * *

**Author's note:** Fun fact. When writing my original draft for Surviving Saiyans years ago, I had reached something like, Chapter 20+. I was in the Freeza saga in regards to the timeline. Buuuut, I had an idea about the Saiyan Tuffle war that I wanted to explore. For it to work through, due to character's ages not matching up, I had to rewrite EVERYTHING!  
So with all the new content to account for years that didn't need exploring, it'll be a while before we reach where I was.

**Author's Rant: **Also. How did the Tuffles lose? In the Anime, King Kai implied that the Tuffles are technologically superior to the Saiyans, like modern or future Earth vs literal cavemen.  
Yes the Saiyans are stronger, but How? Isn't it somewhat implied their base strength comes from living under 10x Earth Gravity? Well the Tuffles are living under that too, plus they have guns. Even if the Saiyans are stronger, surly it wouldn't be by much? Like an Spartan Warrior in his prime versus a modern day infantry man. He may be body of a Greek god but, the other guy as a machine gun, so... you lose.


End file.
